An analytic model illustrating the effects of rotation on a magnetosphere containing low-energy plasma
The structure of an isolated rapidly rotating magnetosphere containing low-energy plasma is treated analytically. The plasma is confined to a thin sheet lying in the equatorial plane. Its effects as far as the magnetosphere as a whole is concerned are equivalent to those of an azimuthal current sheet. When the current distribution is assumed to have a certain form, it is possible to describe the complete solution in terms of simple functions. It is shown that neutral points eventually appear in the magnetic-field configuration, indicating that the magnetosphere is unable to contain additional plasma with the assumed distribution.