The magnetron instability in a pulsar's cylindrical electrosphere

DOI10.1051/0004-6361:20078442zbMATH Open1137.85325arXiv0711.2416OpenAlexW3106368183WikidataQ68671007 ScholiaQ68671007MaRDI QIDQ5457823FDOQ5457823

Authors: Jérôme Pétri 

Publication date: 8 April 2008

Published in: Astronomy & Astrophysics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: (abridged) The physics of the pulsar magnetosphere remains poorly constrained by observations. Little is known about their emission mechanism. Large vacuum gaps probably exist, and a non-neutral plasma partially fills the neutron star surroundings to form an electrosphere. We showed that the differentially rotating equatorial disk in the pulsar's electrosphere is diocotron unstable and that it tends to stabilise when relativistic effects are included. However, when approaching the light cylinder, particle inertia becomes significant and the electric drift approximation is violated. In this paper, we study the most general instability, i.e. by including particle inertia effects, as well as relativistic motions. This general non-neutral plasma instability is called the magnetron instability. We linearise the coupled relativistic cold-fluid and Maxwell equations. The non-linear eigenvalue problem for the perturbed azimuthal electric field component is solved numerically. The spectrum of the magnetron instability in a non-neutral plasma column confined between two cylindrically conducting walls is computed for several cylindrical configurations. For a pulsar electrosphere, no outer wall exists. In this case, we allow for electromagnetic wave emission propagating to infinity. When the self-field induced by the plasma becomes significant, it can first increase the growth rate of the magnetron instability. However, equilibrium solutions are only possible when the self-electric field, measured by the parameter $s_{me}$ and tending to disrupt the plasma configuration, is bounded to an upper limit, $s_{me,max}$. For $s_{me}$ close to but smaller than this value $s_{me,max}$, the instability becomes weaker or can be suppressed as was the case in the diocotron regime.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0711.2416

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zbMATH Keywords

instabilities-plasmas-methods: analytical-methods: numerical-stars: pulsars: general

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Radiative transfer in astronomy and astrophysics (85A25) Hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic problems in astronomy and astrophysics (85A30)

Cited In (15)

• FILAMENTATION INSTABILITY OF INTERACTING CURRENT SHEETS IN STRIPED RELATIVISTIC WINDS: THE ORIGIN OF LOW SIGMA?
• The diocotron instability in a pulsar cylindrical electrosphere
• Relativistic stabilisation of the diocotron instability in a pulsar “cylindrical” electrosphere
• Growing electrostatic modes in the isothermal pair plasma of the pulsar magnetosphere
• Kinetic simulation of the electron-cyclotron maser instability: relaxation of electron horseshoe distributions
• Magnetic reconnection at the termination shock in a striped pulsar wind
• Instabilities of a Cylindrical Electron-Hole Plasma in a Magnetic Field
• Pair production in a magnetic and radiation field in a pulsar magnetosphere
• Physics of the Pulsar Magnetosphere
• Proton cyclotron instability in the drifting magnetoplasma
• Force-free pulsar magnetosphere: instability and generation of magnetohydrodynamic waves (research note)
• Magnetohydrodynamic waces in the pulsar magnetosphere
• The Free Electron Maser in Pulsar Magnetospheres
• Tearing instability in the pulsar magnetosphere
• Non-linear evolution of the diocotron instability in a pulsar electrosphere: two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations

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