Institute for Advanced Study Astrophysics Seminar

ABSTRACT: Pulsars are electromagnetic machines that convert the rotational energy of neutron stars into relativistic magnetically-dominated outflows. How these machines actually operate has remained a puzzle for many years. I will describe the structure of pulsar magnetospheres as obtained from the idealized ``force-free MHD" simulations, which take into account the influence of magnetospheric plasma on the shape of the field. I will then apply the insights from these simulations to two classes of sources -- intermittent radio pulsars and gamma-ray emitting pulsars. New observations of pulsar gamma-ray light curves with Fermi telescope allow us to directly constrain the location and physics of the acceleration regions in the magnetosphere. I will argue for the importance of understanding the strong current layers that permeate the pulsar magnetosphere.