Related papers: Theory of Pulsar Winds
Produced by the interaction between the ``pulsar wind'' powered by the rotational energy of a neutron star and its surroundings, the study of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) provides vital insight into the physics of neutron star magnetospheres…
Pulsars are wonderful gravitational probes. Their tiny size and stellar mass give their rotation periods a stablility comparable to that of atomic frequency standards. This is especially true of the rapidly rotating "millisecond pulsars"…
Radiative transfer in a relativistic accretion disk wind is examined under the plane-parallel approximation in the fully special relativistic treatment. For an equilibrium flow, where the flow speed and the source function are constant, the…
This brief review is intended to introduce gravitational physicists to recent developments in which general relativity is being used to describe certain aspects of condensed matter systems, e.g., superconductivity.
In this review we confront the current theoretical understanding of particle acceleration at relativistic outflows with recent observational results on various source classes thought to involve such outflows, e.g. gamma-ray bursts, active…
I discuss the transfer of polarized synchrotron radiation in relativistic jets. I argue that the main mechanism responsible for the circular polarization properties of compact synchrotron sources is likely to be Faraday conversion and that,…
Relativity, time reversal invariance in mechanics and principle of causality can be in the bases of a type of vibration of the extensive objects. It is because, the detailed analysis of the relativistic movement of an extensive body entail…
Starting from a covariant cycle-averaged Lagrangian the relativistic oscillation center equation of motion of a point charge is deduced and analytical formulae for the ponderomotive force in a travelling wave of arbitrary strength are…
The synchrotron-emitting nebulae formed by energetic winds from young pulsars provide information on a wide range phenomena that contribute to their structure. High resolution X-ray observations reveal jets and toroidal structures in many…
We investigate the analogy between magnetism and rotation in relativistic theory. In nonrelativistic theory, the exact correspondence between magnetism and rotation is established in the presence of an external trapping potential. Based on…
The prospects for detection of gravitational waves from precessing pulsars have been considered by constructing fully relativistic rotating neutron star models and evaluating the expected wave amplitude $h$ from a galactic source. For a…
Relativistic strongly magnetized winds outflowing from fast-rotating compact objects like millisecond pulsars with surface magnetic fields of $\sim 10^{15}-10^{16}$ G are plausible sources of cosmological $\gamma$-ray bursts. In such winds,…
The concept of the Wigner function is used to construct a semi-classical kinetic theory describing the evolution of the axial-current phase-space density of spin-1/2 particles in the relaxation time approximation. The resulting approach can…
Pulsars, or more generally rotation powered neutron stars, are excellent factories of antimatter in the Galaxy, in the form of pairs of electrons and positrons. Electrons are initially extracted from the surface of the star by the intense…
(abridged) Pulsar activity and its related radiation mechanism are usually explained by invoking some plasma processes occurring inside the magnetosphere. Despite many detailed local investigations, the global electrodynamics around those…
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…
Pulsar winds are the ideal environment for the study of non-linear electromagnetic waves. It is generally thought that a pulsar launches a striped wind, a magnetohydrodynamic entropy wave, where plasma sheets carried along with the flow…
We investigate the motion of free relativistic particles relative to the ambient medium around a gravitationally collapsed system. If the relative speed exceeds a critical value given by c/sqrt(2), the gravitational tidal effects exhibit…
The theory for large amplitude circularly polarized waves propagating along an external magnetic field is extended in order to include also vacuum polarization effects. A general dispersion relation, which unites previous results, is…
Pulsar spindown forms a reliable yet enigmatic prototype for the energy loss processes in many astrophysical objects including accretion disks and back holes. In this paper we review the physics of pulsar magnetospheres, concentrating on…