Nuclear physics of reverse electron flow at pulsar polar caps
arXiv:0909.3785 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15665.x
Abstract
Protons produced in electromagnetic showers formed by the reverse-electron flux are usually the largest component of the time-averaged polar-cap open magnetic flux-line current in neutron stars with positive corotational charge density. Although the electric-field boundary conditions in the corotating frame are time-independent, instabilities on both medium and short time-scales cause the current to alternate between states in which either protons or positrons and ions form the major component. These properties are briefly discussed in relation to nulling and microstructure in radio pulsars, pair production in an outer gap, and neutron stars with high surface temperatures.
13 pages; to be published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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- Pulsar emission: Langmuir modes in a relativistic multi-component plasma
- Ion-proton pulsars
- Electron-positron bremsstrahlung and pair creation in very high magnetic fields
- Electric Field Screening with Back-Flow at Pulsar Polar Cap
- A multi-component Langmuir-mode source for the observed pulsar coherent emission
- A bistable pulsar magnetosphere: nulls and mode-changes
- Complex emission patterns: fluctuations and bistability of polar-cap potentials