Some comments on the electrodynamics of binary pulsars

TL;DR

This paper explores the electrodynamics of binary pulsars, revealing two distinct radiation emission mechanisms: magnetic quadrupole emission from orbital motion and induction electric fields from magnetic interactions.

Contribution

It introduces the concept that binary pulsars can emit radiation through orbital motion and magnetic interactions, expanding understanding beyond isolated pulsar models.

Findings

Orbital rotation in binary pulsars generates magnetic quadrupole emission.

Magnetic field interactions produce powerful induction electric fields.

Induction electric fields cannot be screened like in isolated pulsars.

Abstract

We consider the electrodynamics of in-spiraling binary pulsars, showing that there are two distinct ways in which they may emit radiation. On the one hand, even if the pulsars do not rotate, we show that in vacuo orbital rotation generates magnetic quadrupole emission, which, in the late stages of the binary evolution becomes nearly as effective as magnetic dipole emission by a millisecond pulsar. On the other hand, we show that interactions of the two magnetic fields generate powerful induction electric fields, which cannot be screened by a suitable distribution of charges and currents like they are in isolated pulsars. We compute approximate electromotive forces for this case.