Formation of the Radio Profile Components of the Crab Pulsar

Abstract

The induced Compton scattering of radio emission off the particles of the ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasma in the open field line tube of a pulsar is considered. We examine the scattering of a bright narrow radio beam into the background over a wide solid angle and specifically study the scattering in the transverse regime, which holds in a moderately strong magnetic field. Making use of the angular distribution of the scattered intensity and taking into account the effect of rotational aberration in the scattering region, we simulate the profiles of the backscattered components as applied to the Crab pulsar. It is suggested that the interpulse (IP), the high-frequency interpulse (IP') and the pair of the so-called high-frequency components (HFC1 and HFC2) result from the backward scattering of the main pulse (MP), precursor (PR) and the low-frequency component (LFC), respectively. The components of the high-frequency profiles, the IP' and HFCs, are interpreted for the first time. The HFC1 and HFC2 are argued to be a single component split by the rotational aberration close to the light cylinder. It is demonstrated that the observed spectral and polarization properties of the profile components of the Crab pulsar as well as the giant pulse phenomenon outside of the MP can be explained in terms of our model.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (7)

• Radio Emission Signatures in the Crab Pulsar
• Instantaneous Radio Spectra of Giant Pulses from the Crab Pulsar from Decimeter to Decameter Wavelengths
• Induced scattering of short radio pulses
• Giant Radio Pulses from the Crab Pulsar
• On the Nature of Precursors in the Radio Pulsar Profiles
• Physics of Interpulse Emission in Radio Pulsars
• Interpretation of the Low-Frequency Peculiarities in the Radio Profile Structure of the Crab Pulsar

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The Crab Pulsar at Centimeter Wavelengths II: Single Pulses
• The Crab Pulsar at Centimeter Wavelengths: I. Ensemble Characteristics
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• Particle-in-cell simulations of electron-positron cyclotron maser forming pulsar radio zebras
• Streaming instability in neutron star magnetospheres: No indication of soliton-like waves
• Origin of radio polarization in pulsar polar caps
• Bunch Expansion as a cause for Pulsar Radio Emissions