SIMBAD references

It is shown that the radius of curvature of magnetic field lines in the polar region of a rotating magnetized neutron star can be significantly less than the usual radius of curvature of the dipole magnetic field. The magnetic field in the polar cap is distorted by toroidal electric currents flowing in the neutron star crust. These currents close up the magnetospheric currents driven by the electron-positron plasma generation process in the pulsar magnetosphere. Owing to the decrease in the radius of curvature, electron-positron plasma generation becomes possible even for slowly rotating neutron stars, with PB^–2/3₁₂< 10 s, where P is the period of star rotation and B₁₂=B/10¹² G is the magnitude of the magnetic field on the star surface.