Plasma Instabilities: Sources for Coherent Radio Emission

Abstract

AbstractThe mechanism for the generation of pulsar radio emission has not yet been identified. Several coherent emission processes, linked to the motion of relativistic particles in the extremely strong pulsar magnetic field, have been proposed as possible candidates. Essential improvements, based on fundamental concepts of plasma physics, prove that collective plasma effects can provide the necessary degree of coherence. Progress in the 1990s, which is reported here, relates to curvature maser emission processes and relativistic plasma emission mechanisms.