Propagation and Generation of Electromagnetic Waves at Proton Gyrofrequencies in a Relativistic Electron-Positron Plasma. I. Low-Frequency Weakly Damped Electromagnetic Waves

Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics. 2015. Vol. 57. No. 10. P. 681–690.

Zheleznyakov V. V., Bespalov P.A.

We consider the dispersion characteristics of electromagnetic waves in a plasma with strong magnetic field and equal content of relativistic electrons and positrons, whose synchrotron radiation can be the source of optical radiation of a pulsar. It is shown that when a small fraction of nonrelativistic protons with a nonequilibrium distribution function is present in the plasma, an effective instability can develop at frequencies below the first harmonic of the relativistic gyrofrequency of electrons, namely, at the harmonics of the proton gyrofrequency. This instability leads to the excitation of the O- and X-mode electromagnetic waves, which can, in principle, be related with the observed pulsar radiation. In part I of this paper, we study dispersion characteristics of low-frequency electromagnetic waves (with frequencies below the relativistic gyrofrequency of electrons) in an ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasma with an isotropic momentum distribution function of the particles. Instabilities of the O- and X-mode waves and the conditions of escape of the radiation from the region of strong magnetic field into a rarefied isotropic plasma will be considered in paper II. The results can be used in the interpretation of known experimental data on the dynamic pulsar radiation spectra obtained with high temporal and frequency resolution.

Ключевые слова: relativistic electrons and positrons, pulsar radiation spectra, space plasma, релятивистские электроны и позитроны, спектр излученипя пульсаров