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Session 68 - Degenerate Stars, Pulsars.
Display session, Thursday, June 11
Although radio emission from pulsars was first discovered thirty years ago, the mechanism which creates the radiation is not well understood. It is generally believed that the high brightness temperature, which is characteristic of pulsar pulses, must be the result of a coherent emission process. Relativistic plasma emission mechanisms in which waves are generated through an instability and converted into escaping radiation are the most favored emission mechanisms. Because the distribution function of charged particles in the pulsar's magnetosphere is not well-constrained, theoretical astrophysicists have sought to understand pulsar radiation from first principles by studying the growth rate of waves assuming a particular trial distribution function. We will present results from a computational survey of appropriate distribution functions. Our analysis will be related to results in the literature; growth rates, real frequencies and polarizations will be given.
Program listing for Thursday