2002/09/02 by Janusz A. Gil, Gil, Janusz A., George I. Melikidze +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0209030
6 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the 270. WE-Heraeus Seminar on Neutron Stars, Pulsars and Supernova Remnants, Jan. 21-25, 2002, Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, eds W. Becker, H. Lesch & J. Truemper. Proceedings are available as MPE-Report 278
The problem of formation of the inner vacuum gap in neutron stars with \bfΩ⋅\bf B<0 is considered. It is argued by means of the condition Ti/Ts>1, where Ti is the melting temperature of surface 5626Fe ions and Ts is the actual temperature of the polar cap surface, that the inner vacuum gap can form, provided that the actual surface magnetic field is extremaly strong (Bs\gtrsim 1013 G) and curved (\cal R<106 cm), irrespective of the value of dipolar component measured from the pulsar spin down rate. The calculations are carried out for pulsars with drifting subpulses and/or periodic intensity modulations, in which the existence of the quasi steady vacuum gap discharging via \bf E×\bf B drifting sparks is almost unavoidable.