Related papers: 3D Kinetic Pulsar Magnetosphere Models: Connecting…
In recent years, kinetic simulations have been crucial to further our understanding of pulsar electrodynamics. Yet, due to the large-scale separation between the gyro-period vs the stellar rotation period, resolving the particle gyration…
Rotating neutron stars, or pulsars, are plausibly the source of power behind many astrophysical systems, such as gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants. In the past several years, 3D numerical simulations…
Magnetars are surrounded by diffuse plasma in magnetic field strengths well above the quantum electrodynamic critical value. We derive equations of "quantum force-free electrodynamics" for this plasma using effective field theory arguments.…
Since the era of the Fermi/LAT and atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes, pulsars are known to emit high and very high-energy photons, in the MeV-GeV range and sometimes up to TeV. To date, it is still unclear where and how these photons are…
Adopting our new method for matching general relativistic, ideal magnetohydrodynamics to its force-free limit, we perform the first systematic simulations of force-free pulsar magnetospheres in general relativity. We endow the neutron star…
Kinetic simulations of 3D collisionless magnetic reconnection with a guide field show a dramatic enhancement of energetic electron production when compared with 2D systems. In the 2D systems, electrons are trapped in magnetic islands that…
In this paper we use three-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations to investigate the interaction of a small-Larmor radius plasma cloud/jet with a transverse non-uniform magnetic field typical to a tangential discontinuity…
Pulsars have been identified as good candidates for the acceleration of cosmic rays, up to ultra-high energies. However, a precise description of the acceleration processes at play is still to be established. Using 2D particle-in-cell…
We address the problem of 2D particle density control. The particles are immersed in dielectric fluid and acted upon by manipulating an electric field. The electric field is controlled by an array of electrodes and used to bring the…
A two-dimensional electrodynamical model is used to study particle acceleration in the outer magnetosphere of a pulsar. The charge depletion from the Goldreich-Julian charge density causes a large electric field along the magnetic field…
I outline the theory of relativistic charged-particle motion in the magnetosphere in a way suitable for undergraduate courses. I discuss particle and guiding center motion, derive the three adiabatic invariants associated with them, and…
Quantum electrodynamics (QED) effects may be included in physical processes of magnetar and pulsar magnetospheres with strong magnetic fields. Involving the quantum corrections, the Maxwell electrodynamics is modified to non-linear…
A quantum kinetic theory for correlated charged-particle systems in strong time-dependent electromagnetic fields is developed. Our approach is based on a systematic gauge-invariant nonequilibrium Green's functions formulation. We…
Relativistic magnetic reconnection has been proposed as an important nonthermal particle acceleration (NTPA) mechanism that generates power-law spectra and high-energy emissions. Power-law particle spectra are in general characterized by…
We investigate the particle accelerator that arises in a rotating neutron-star magnetosphere. Solving the Poisson equation for the electro-static potential, the Boltzmann equations for relativistic electrons and positrons, and the radiative…
We explore particle accelerator electrodynamics in the magnetosphere of a rapidly rotating neutron star (NS). We address the importance of a self-consistent treatment of pair production, solving the Poisson equation describing the…
Astrophysical observations suggest that magnetic reconnection in relativistic plasmas plays an important role in the acceleration of energetic particles. Modeling this accurately requires numerical schemes capable of addressing large scales…
We suggest that some observational features of high-energy radiation from pulsars should be explained in terms of three dimensional geometric models, e.g. the phase-resolved X-ray and $\gamma$-ray spectra and the energy dependent light…
Next-generation high-power lasers that can be focused to intensities exceeding 10^23 W/cm^2 are enabling new physics and applications. The physics of how these lasers interact with matter is highly nonlinear, relativistic, and can involve…
A synthesis of the present knowledge on gamma-ray emission from the magnetosphere of a rapidly rotating neutron star is presented, focusing on the electrodynamics of particle accelerators. The combined curvature, synchrotron, and…