The pulsar magnetosphere as a giant radio aerial
Abstract
The synchrotron radiation from a synchronously rotating charge distribution is calculated as a model of pulsar emission. Formulae for the radiation field of a continuous rotating charge distribution are derived on the basis of the inhomogeneous wave equations, and formulae for synchrotron radiation from a point charge are obtained as a special case. Results demonstrate that for any synchronously rotating charge distribution, the radiation field pattern is stationary both in a frame moving radially outwards at the speed of light and in the rotating frame. Coherence is thus assured, however the wave shape is nonsinusoidal. The formulae are then applied to a rotating charged disk to illustrate a possible mechanism for the generation of observed pulsar emission characteristics.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- October 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/193.2.213
- Bibcode:
- 1980MNRAS.193..213E
- Keywords:
-
- Pulsar Magnetospheres;
- Pulsars;
- Radiation Distribution;
- Radio Astronomy;
- Stellar Atmospheres;
- Stellar Radiation;
- Atmospheric Electricity;
- Charge Distribution;
- Stellar Magnetic Fields;
- Synchrotron Radiation;
- Astrophysics