Aims: We investigate the electromagnetic interaction of a relativistic stellar wind with small bodies in orbit around the star.
Methods: Based on our work on the theory of Alfvén wings to relativistic winds presented in a companion paper, we estimate the force exerted by the associated current system on orbiting bodies and evaluate the resulting orbital drift.
Results: This Alfvénic structure is found to have no significant influence on planets or smaller bodies orbiting a millisecond pulsar. On the time scale of millions of years, it can however affect the orbit of bodies with a diameter of 100 km around standard pulsars with a period P ~ 1 s and a magnetic field B ~ 10⁸ T. Kilometer-sized bodies experience drastic orbital changes on a time scale of 10⁴ years.