Numerical Simulation of Plasma Flow in the Magnetosphere of an Axisymmetric Rotator

Abstract

The boundary conditions and the nature of the critical surfaces of the stationary flow of magnetized plasma ejected by rotating objects are discussed from the causality point of view. To obtain the solution of the problem of the stationary plasma ejection by a magnetized rotating star, the three dimensional time-dependent axisymmetric problem is solved numerically. The solution for a cold nonrelativistic plasma ejected by a star having a monopole-like magnetic field is obtained. An analysis of the plasma flow near the critical surfaces is performed. It is shown that in the nonrelativistic case almost 50% of the Poynting flux can be transformed in to the kinetic energy of the plasma.