Slide 29 of 59
Notes:
For a star rotating in a vacuum, the rotating magnetic field induces an electric field immediately outside the neutron star surface and is given by the equation shown in the green box.
The potential difference on the scale of the neutron star radius is approx. 1e18 Volts. Electric potentials generated in this simple way are sufficient to overcome electrostatic binding forces, thus electrons and protons are expelled from the neutron star surface and are accelerated almost to the highest energies, ie in cosmic rays.
