Kinetic model of large-amplitude oscillations in neutron star pair cascades

Abstract

Electron-positron pair cascades developed in the extreme electromagnetic fields of neutron star polar caps are considered a key source of magnetospheric plasma in these objects. We use a simplified model that maps the Quantum Electrodynamics processes governing the pair cascades to analytically and numerically model the development of the pair cascade, and show that large-amplitude oscillations of the electric field are inductively driven by the resulting plasma. A plasma instability arises in these oscillations, and particles accelerated in growing electric field perturbations can drive secondary pair bursts that damp the large-amplitude oscillations. An analytical model is proposed to describe this interplay between the pair production and kinetic collective plasma processes. All analytical results are shown to be in excellent agreement with particle-in-cell simulations.

10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Advances in QED with intense background fields
• Charged particle motion and radiation in strong electromagnetic fields
• Fast radio bursts and their high-energy counterpart from magnetar magnetospheres
• Evidence for Coherent Curvature Radiation in PSR J1645$-$0317 with Disordered Distribution of Polarization Position Angle
• Electric field screening in pair discharges and generation of pulsar radio emission
• Particle-in-cell simulations of pulsar magnetospheres: transition between electrosphere and force-free regimes
• Poynting flux transport channels formed in polar cap regions of neutron star magnetospheres
• Kinetic instability in inductively oscillatory plasma equilibrium
• Linear acceleration emission of pulsar relativistic streaming instability and interacting plasma bunches
• Origin of radio polarization in pulsar polar caps
• Bunch Expansion as a cause for Pulsar Radio Emissions
• Model of pulsar pair cascades in non uniform electric fields: growth rate, density profile and screening time
• Coherent emission from QED cascades in pulsar polar caps