Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- List of Notation
- Constants and Quantities
- 1 Basic observational characteristics of radio pulsars
- 2 Neutron stars
- 3 Physical processes in the pulsar magnetosphere
- 4 Electrodynamics of the pulsar magnetosphere
- 5 Generation of electron–positron plasma in the pulsar magnetosphere
- 6 Pulsar radio emission
- 7 Comparison of theory with observational data
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- References
- Additional literature
- Author index
- Subject index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- List of Notation
- Constants and Quantities
- 1 Basic observational characteristics of radio pulsars
- 2 Neutron stars
- 3 Physical processes in the pulsar magnetosphere
- 4 Electrodynamics of the pulsar magnetosphere
- 5 Generation of electron–positron plasma in the pulsar magnetosphere
- 6 Pulsar radio emission
- 7 Comparison of theory with observational data
- Conclusion
- Appendix
- References
- Additional literature
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
The theory presented above provides insight into the basic physical processes proceeding in the magnetosphere of a neutron star. Within this theory we can describe the principal details of the dynamics and evolution of pulsars, clarify the nature of their activity, establish the origin of the electron–positron plasma, and describe the coherent generation mechanism of observed radio emission. The main predictions of the theory are in agreement with observations.
There are, of course, many questions requiring further theoretical investigations. For example, it is necessary to carry out a reliable calculation of free electron energy on the neutron star's surface (Section 2.5), to investigate the wave excitation processes in the boundary layer near the light surface and in an extensive region behind it (Chapter 4), to study the transition layer structure on the boundary between the open and closed regions of the magnetosphere (Chapter 4), and so on. It is noteworthy that only first steps have been made in the study of the nature of non-stationary processes in the pulsar magnetosphere (Section 7.7). Nevertheless, the physical picture of the basic processes in the pulsar magnetosphere seems on the whole to be clear.
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- Information
- Physics of the Pulsar Magnetosphere , pp. 361Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993