On the randomness of pulsar nulls

Pulsar nulling is not always a random process; most pulsars, in fact, null non-randomly. The Wald–Wolfowitz statistical runs test is a simple diagnostic that pulsar astronomers can use to identify pulsars that have non-random nulls. It is not clear at this point how the dichotomy in pulsar nulling randomness is related to the underlying nulling phenomenon, but its nature suggests that there are at least two distinct reasons that pulsars null.     

Polarization transfer in a pulsar magnetosphere

Propagation of radio waves in the ultrarelativistic magnetized electron–positron plasma of a pulsar magnetosphere is considered. The polarization state of the original natural waves is found to vary markedly on account of the wave mode coupling and cyclotron absorption. The change is most pronounced when the regions of mode coupling and cyclotron resonance approximately coincide. In cases when the wave mode coupling occurs above and below the resonance region, the resultant polarization appears essentially distinct. The main result of the paper is that in the former case the polarization modes become non-orthogonal. The analytical treatment of the equations of polarization transfer is accompanied by numerical calculations. The observational consequences of polarization evolution in pulsar plasma are discussed as well.     

Nature of microstructure in pulsar radio emission

We present a model for microstructure in pulsar radio emission. We propose that micropulses result from alteration of the radio wave generation region by nearly transverse drift waves propagating across the pulsar magnetic field and encircling the bundle of the open magnetic field lines. It is demonstrated that such waves can modify the curvature of the field lines significantly. This, in turn, affects strongly fulfilment of the resonance conditions necessary for the excitation of radio waves. The time-scale of micropulses is therefore determined by the wavelength of the drift waves. The main features of the microstructure are naturally explained within the framework of this model.     

A new mechanism for pulsar gamma-ray emission

Gamma-ray emission in pulsar magnetospheres is attributed to synchrotron radiation, which tends to decrease the pitch angle of the particle, being balanced by plasma processes tending to increase the pitch angle. The plasma processes are non-resonant instabilities that drive non-resonant quasilinear diffusion (NQD), thereby pumping energy from waves and the parallel motion of the particle into the perpendicular motion of the particle. It is shown that NQD can maintain the pitch angles for particles near the light-cylinder such that they radiate synchrotron radiation at MeV energies. Compared to conventional emission mechanisms (such as polar cap or outer gap models), the resulting spectrum has a relatively low upper cut-off from about a few to 100 MeV. Possible observational consequences of this mechanism are discussed.     

Waves in a one-dimensional magnetized relativistic pair plasma

Normal modes of a one-dimensional relativistically streaming electron–positron plasma in a superstrong magnetic field are considered, taking into account possible different bulk velocities and thermal effects. This physical picture corresponds to the plasma present on the open field lines of rotating neutron stars where the observed radio emission is generated. Various cases are considered: relativistic and non-relativistic relative streaming of cold components, and relativistically hot distributions. A distinction between superluminous and subluminous waves (which can be excited by the Cherenkov effect) is clearly stated. In the low-frequency regime the Cherenkov and cyclotron two-stream instabilities occur. Polarization of the quasi-transverse modes changes from circular for the propagation along magnetic field lines to linear for angles of propagation larger than some critical angle that depends on the relative velocity of the plasma components.     

Oscillating pulsar polar gaps

An analytical model for oscillating pair creation above the pulsar polar cap is presented in which the parallel electric field is treated as a large amplitude, superluminal, electrostatic wave. An exact formalism for such wave is derived in one dimension and applied to both the low-density regime in which the pair plasma density is much lower than the corotating charge density and the high-density regime in which the pair plasma density is much higher than the corotating charge density. In the low-density regime, which is relevant during the phase leading to a pair cascade, a parallel electric field develops resulting in a rapid acceleration of particles. The rapid acceleration leads to bursts of pair production and the system switches to the oscillatory phase, corresponding to the high-density regime, in which pairs oscillate with net drift motion in the direction of wave propagation. Oscillating pairs lead to a current that oscillates with large amplitude about the Goldreich–Julian current. The drift motion can be highly relativistic if the phase speed of large amplitude waves is moderately higher than the speed of light. Thus, the model predicts a relativistic outflow of pairs, a feature that is required for avoiding overheating of the pulsar polar cap and is also needed for the pulsar wind.     

Mapping the magnetosphere of PSR B1055−52

We present a geometric study of the radio and γ-ray pulsar B1055−52 based on recent observations at the Parkes radio telescope. We conclude that the pulsar's magnetic axis is inclined at an angle of 75° to its rotation axis and that both its radio main pulse and interpulse are emitted at the same height above their respective poles. This height is unlikely to be higher or much lower than 700 km, a typical value for radio pulsars.
It is argued that the radio interpulse arises from emission formed on open fieldlines close to the magnetic axis which do not pass through the magnetosphere's null (zero-charge) surface. However, the main pulse emission must originate from fieldlines lying well outside the polar cap boundary beyond the null surface, and farther away from the magnetic axis than those of the outer gap region where the single γ-ray peak is generated. This casts doubt on the common assumption that all pulsars have closed, quiescent, corotating regions stretching to the light cylinder.     

Cyclotron absorption of radio emission within pulsar magnetospheres

Absorption of radio emission through normal cyclotron resonance within pulsar magnetospheres is considered. The optical depth for cyclotron damping is calculated using a plasma distribution with an intrinsically relativistic spread. We argue that such a broad distribution is plausible for pulsar plasmas and that it implies that a class of pulsars that should have cyclotron damping extends to include young pulsars with shorter periods and stronger magnetic fields. There is no obvious observational evidence for disruption of radio pulses, which implies that the optical depth cannot be too large. We propose that cyclotron resonance may cause marginal absorption of radio emission. It is shown that such marginal absorption produces potentially observable asymmetric features for double-peak pulse profiles with wide separation, with one peak tending to be suppressed.     

Formation of the radio profile components of the Crab pulsar

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 and gives rise to the scattered component nearly antiparallel to the streaming velocity of the scattering particles. 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 so-called high-frequency components (HFC1 and HFC2) result from the backward scattering of the main pulse (MP), precursor (PR) and 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 the MP can be explained in terms of our model.     

Statistics of the individual-pulse polarization based on propagation effects in the pulsar magnetosphere

Pulsar radio emission is modelled as a sum of two completely polarized non-orthogonal modes with the randomly varying Stokes parameters and intensity ratio. The modes are the result of polarization evolution of the original natural waves in the hot, magnetized, weakly inhomogeneous plasma of the pulsar magnetosphere. In the course of the wavemode coupling, the linearly polarized natural waves acquire purely orthogonal elliptical polarizations. Further on, as the waves pass through the cyclotron resonance, they become non-orthogonal. The pulse-to-pulse fluctuations of the final polarization characteristics and the intensity ratio of the modes are attributed to the temporal fluctuations in the plasma flow.
The model suggested allows one to reproduce the basic features of the one-dimensional distributions of the individual-pulse polarization characteristics. Besides that, the propagation origin of the pulsar polarization implies a certain correlation between the mode ellipticity and position angle. On a qualitative level, for different sets of parameters, the expected correlations appear compatible with the observed ones. Further theoretical studies are necessary to establish the quantitative correspondence of the model to the observational results and to develop a technique of diagnostics of the pulsar plasma on this basis.