HYDROMAGNETIC PLASMA ACCELERATION BY RAPIDLY ROTATING ASTROPHYSICAL OBJECTS

We have solved analytically for the acceleration of plasma away from a rotating magnetized object. Application of that analysis to rotator models for the radio, optical, and x-ray pulsar NP0532 suggests that it has a magnetic moment of order 3×1028 G cm3 and is losing mass at a rate order 2×109 g/sec. These parameters would provide particles in excess of 1011 eV and a 6×10-4-G field in the Crab Nebula at 1 lt yr from NPO532. © 1969 The American Physical Society.