The discovery of pulsars opened a new research field that allows studying a wide range of physics under extreme conditions. More than 3,000 pulsars are currently known, including especially more than 200 of them studied at gamma-ray frequencies. By putting recent insights into the pulsar magnetosphere in a historical context and by comparing them to key observational features at radio and high-energy frequencies, we show the following: ▪ Magnetospheric structure of young energetic pulsars is now understood. Limitations still exist for old nonrecycled and millisecond pulsars. ▪ The observed high-energy radiation is likely produced in the magnetospheric current sheet beyond the light cylinder. ▪ There are at least two different radio emission mechanisms. One operates in the inner magnetosphere, whereas the other one works near the light cylinder and is specific to pulsars with the high magnetic field strength in that region. ▪ Radio emission from the inner magnetosphere is intrinsically connected to the process of pair production, and its observed properties contain the imprint of both the geometry and propagation effects through the magnetospheric plasma.We discuss the limitations of our understanding and identify a range of observed phenomena and physical processes that still await explanation in thefuture. This includes connecting the magnetospheric processes to spin-down properties to explain braking and possible evolution of spin orientation, building a first-principles model of radio emission and quantitative connections with observations.

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脉冲星磁层及其辐射

脉冲星的发现开辟了一个新的研究领域，可以在极端条件下研究广泛的物理学。目前已知的脉冲星超过 3,000 颗，其中尤其包括 200 多颗在伽马射线频率下进行研究的脉冲星。通过在历史背景下对脉冲星磁层的最新见解，并将其与无线电和高能频率的关键观测特征进行比较，我们得出以下结论： ▪ 年轻高能脉冲星的磁层结构现已被了解。旧的非回收脉冲星和毫秒脉冲星仍然存在局限性。 ▪ 观测到的高能辐射很可能是在光柱之外的磁层电流片中产生的。 ▪ 至少有两种不同的无线电发射机制。一种在磁层内部工作，而另一种在光柱附近工作，专门针对该区域具有高磁场强度的脉冲星。 ▪ 内磁层的无线电发射本质上与配对产生过程相关，其观测到的特性包含通过磁层等离子体的几何和传播效应的印记。我们讨论了我们理解的局限性，并确定了一系列观测到的现象以及仍有待未来解释的物理过程。这包括将磁层过程与自旋下降特性联系起来，以解释制动和自旋方向可能的演化，建立无线电发射的第一原理模型以及与观测的定量联系。