Pulsar radio emission

The theory of pulsar radio emission has been developed in a series of our papers since 1992. It was shown that pulsar radio emission is produced in the lower part of a channel of open magnetic field lines, in a region with a height h ≈ 1.1-10⁷ μ ₃₀ ^1/3 /P^4/21 cm above a magnetic cap of the neutron star (P is the pulsar’s period and μ is the star’s magnetic moment). Here, owing to vigorously occurring processes (the production of photons of curvature radiation and their annihilation into e⁺e^- pairs), two ultrarelativistic particle fluxes are formed: an electron flux moving upward and a positron flux falling onto the star’s magnetic cap. These main fluxes are accompanied by narrow strips of positron and electron fluxes of relatively low energy, the curvature emission from which is a strong coherent radio source. The present paper is a review of earlier papers, and important additions and refinements are also made. Equations are offered for the radio luminosity of a pulsar, the solid angle of the radio beam, and the magnetic moment and moment of inertia of the pulsar’s neutron star. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 147-169, January–March, 2000.