Cerenkov radiation of a charged particle moving in a magnetized, cold plasma (pulsar magnetosphere).
Abstract
Cerenkov radiation from relativistic particles in a strongly magnetized plasma is analyzed in the cold-plasma approximation. It is shown that such radiation in a standard pulsar magnetosphere is comparable (for typical pulsar parameters) to the curvature radiation emitted by the same particles moving along the magnetic lines of force. Evidence is examined that the Cerenkov radiation is coherent under the same conditions as for curvature radiation and is therefore a possible candidate for a pulsar emission mechanism. It is concluded that if the radiation originates in the near zone of the pulsar, both coherent Cerenkov radiation and curvature radiation would be expected and would differ in their spectral properties but not in their polarization
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- May 1979
- Bibcode:
- 1979A&A....74..263H
- Keywords:
-
- Cerenkov Radiation;
- Charged Particles;
- Plasma-Particle Interactions;
- Pulsar Magnetospheres;
- Pulsars;
- Stellar Atmospheres;
- Cold Plasmas;
- Energy Methods;
- Equations Of Motion;
- Plasma Frequencies;
- Astrophysics;
- Cerenkov Radiation:Relativistic Particles;
- Magnetospheres:Pulsars;
- Magnetospheres:Relativistic Particles