Related papers: Electron positron pair flow and current compositio…
We investigate self-consistent particle acceleration near a pulsar polar cap (PC) by the electrostatic field due to the effect of inertial frame dragging. Test particles gain energy from the electric field parallel to the open magnetic…
Treating the production of electron and positron pairs by a strong electric field from the vacuum as a quantum tunneling process we derive, in semiclassical approximation, a general expression for the pair production rate in a $z$-dependent…
We evidence the existence of plasma oscillations of electrons-positron pairs created by the vacuum polarization in an uniform electric field with E < Ec. Our general treatment, encompassing also the traditional, well studied case of E > Ec,…
Neutron stars exhibit magnetic fields and densities far beyond those achievable in terrestrial laboratories, offering a natural probe of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions. Using observationally anchored mass-radius…
The dissipation of turbulent magnetic fields is an appealing scenario to explain the origin of non-thermal particles in high-energy astrophysical sources. However, it has been suggested that the particle distribution may effectively…
In this poster we present the structure of an axisymmetric, force-free magnetosphere of a twisted, aligned rotating dipole within a corotating plasma-filled magnetosphere. We explore various profiles for the twist. We find that as the…
Isotropic diffusion is a key assumption in many models of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons. We find that simulation results imply a critical energy of ~10-1000~GeV above which electrons and positrons can spend their entire lives in…
Particle acceleration in relativistic shocks of electron-positron plasmas with proton admixture is investigated through two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The upstream plasma, with a bulk Lorentz factor of $10$ and a…
Modifications to polar-gap models for pulsars are discussed for the case where the surface magnetic field, $B_\S$, of the neutron star is strong. For $B\ga4\times10^8\rm\,T$, the curvature $\gamma$-quanta emitted tangentially to the curved…
Using 2.5-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations, we study the kinetic physics of relativistic shear flow boundary in collisionless electron-positron (e+e-) plasmas. We find efficient magnetic field generation and particle energization at…
Plasmas generated using energetic electron beams are well known for their low electron temperature ($T_{e}$) and plasma potential, which makes them attractive for atomic-precision plasma processing applications such as atomic layer etch and…
We study with a 3D PIC simulation discontinuities between an electron-positron pair plasma and magnetized electrons and protons. A pair plasma is injected at one simulation boundary with a speed 0.6$c$ along its normal. It expands into an…
We present large scale 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to examine particle energization in magnetic reconnection of relativistic electron-positron (pair) plasmas. The initial configuration is set up as a relativistic Harris…
Neutron star electromagnetic activity produces pairs that fill their magnetosphere represented to the zeroth order by the force-free approximation. Neither dissipation nor acceleration nor radiation from charged particles is expected from…
Turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in space and astrophysical plasmas. By means of 3D fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that turbulence in low-$\beta$ plasmas ($\beta$ is the…
The global structure of the current flows in pulsar magnetospheres is investigated, with rough calculations of the elements in the magnetospheric circuit. It is emphasized that the potential of critical field lines is the same as that of…
Pulsar magnetospheres are thought to be filled with electron-positron plasma generated in pair cascades. The driving mechanism of these cascades is the emission of gamma-ray photons and their conversion into pairs via Quantum…
It has recently been demonstrated that self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations of low-obliquity pulsar magnetospheres in flat spacetime show weak particle acceleration and no pair production near the poles. We investigate the validity…
Some of the most energetic pulsars exhibit rotation-modulated gamma-ray emission in the $0.1$ to $100$ GeV band. The luminosity of this emission is typically $0.1\text{-}10\%$ of the pulsar spin-down power (gamma-ray efficiency), implying…
We present numerical simulations of the magnetic field turbulence in collisionless electron-positron plasma with continuous injection of new pairs, which maintains anisotropy in the particle distribution over long time. {With these…