Dice and Pulsars

TL;DR

This paper models pulsar pulse sequences as a stochastic process driven by random discharges on a neutron star's polar cap, using dice and coin tosses as analogies to illustrate the randomness and statistical properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interpretation of pulsar emissions as a random discharge process influenced by surface wave dynamics, supported by a dice-based analogy.

Findings

Pulse sequences can be modeled as random discharge events.

Discharge locations correlate with statistical pulse properties.

Physical mechanism involves charge drainage from surface waves.

Abstract

The pulse sequence is interpreted as a realization of a random electron discharge process in a vacuum gap over the polar cap (PC) - the open magnetic force line region on the neutron star surface. This point of view is illustrated by an example based on the dice. The generators of the random numbers are a cube and a coin. Throwing of dice and coin tossing determine the discharge places on the "light" and "dark" sides of PC, and correspondingly - the "shape" of the individual pulses and their statistical properties The physical mechanism giving such discharge scheme is shortly discussed. It may be a charge drained down from a sharp top of surface waves in a parallel electric field on the liquid PC surface of a neutron star.