Related papers: Three Mistakes in Pulsar Electrodynamics
The phenomenon of pulsar nulling, observed as the temporary inactivity of a pulsar, remains poorly understood both observationally and theoretically. Most observational studies that quantify nulling employ a variant of Ritchings (1976)'s…
Two entwined problems have remained unresolved since pulsars were discovered nearly 50 years ago: the orientation of their polarized emission relative to the emitting magnetic field and the direction of putative supernova ``kicks' relative…
The motion of a neutron superfluid condensate in a pulsar is studied. Several theorems of general-relativistic hydrodynamics are proved for a superfluid. The average density distribution of vortex lines in pulsars and their…
From the basic concepts of general relativity, we investigate the rotation of the polarization angle by a moving gravitational lens. Particularly, we clarify the existing confusion in the literature by showing and explaining why such…
The region very close to an electron ($r << r_0 = e^2/mc^2 \approx 2.8\times 10^{-13}$ cm) is, according to quantum electrodynamics, a seething maelstrom of virtual electron-positron pairs flashing in and out of existence. To take account…
The issue of a self-consistent solution of Maxwell-Einstein equations achieves a very simple form when all quantum effects are neglected but a weak vacuum polarization due to an external magnetic field is taken into account. From a…
Independent of Maxwell, in 1867 the Danish physicist L. V. Lorenz proposed a theory in which he identified light with electrical oscillations propagating in a very poor conductor. Lorenz's electrodynamic theory of light, which formally was…
We consider a simple model of the physical vacuum as a self-gravitating relativistic fluid. Proceeding in a step-by-step manner, we are able to show that the equations of classical electrodynamics follow if the electromagnetic…
The discovery of the first pulsar in a binary star system, the Hulse--Taylor pulsar, 50 years ago opened up an entirely new field of experimental gravity. For the first time it was possible to investigate strong-field and radiative aspects…
The purpose of this paper is to suggest how detailed single-pulse observations of ``slow'' radio pulsars may be utilized to construct an empirical model for their emission. It links the observational synthesis developed in a series of…
We highlight some subtleties that affect naive implementations of quadrupolar and octupolar gravitational waveforms from numerically-integrated trajectories of three-body systems. Some of those subtleties arise from the requirement that the…
Recent experiments [D. Pengel, S. Kerbstadt, L. Englert, T. Bayer, and M. Wollenhaupt, \href{https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.043426}{{\PRA} {\bf 96} 043426 (2017)}] have measured the photoelectron momentum…
Recent solution of a pulsar (although likely correct, as agreeing with phenomenology of weak pulsars without a single adjustable) is somewhat unsatisfactory on account of being heavily numerical. Here the main features of a pulsar -- (i)…
The general model for incoherent synchrotron radiation has long been known, with the first theory being published by Westfold in $1959$ and continued by Westfold and Legg in $1968$. When this model was first developed it was applied to…
In the early days of quantum mechanics Kapitza and Dirac predicted that matter waves would scatter off the optical intensity grating formed by two counter-propagating light waves [1]. This interaction, driven by the ponderomotive potential…
The electromagnetic fields in Maxwell's theory satisfy linear equations in the classical vacuum. This is modified in classical non-linear electrodynamic theories. To date there has been little experimental evidence that any of these…
We present a simple numerical model of the plasma flow within the open field line tube in the pulsar magnetosphere. We study how the plasma screens the rotationally induced electric field and maintains the electric current demanded by the…
I review the theoretical understanding of the global structure of pulsar magnetospheres concentrating on recent progress in force-free electrodynamics and first-principles simulations of magnetospheres.
We show that flows of pure electromagnetic energy are subject to instabilities familiar from hydrodynamics and plasma physics---Kelvin-Helmholtz and screw instabilities. In the framework of force-free electrodynamics, it is found that…
Motivated by the particle acceleration problem in pulsars, we numerically investigate electrostatic instability of electron-positron pairs injected in an external electric field. The electric field is expected to be so strong that we cannot…