Ion-proton pulsars

TL;DR

This paper presents evidence that ion-proton plasma, not electron-positron pairs, is responsible for radio emissions in pulsars, based on observational analysis and plasma composition studies, impacting neutron star research.

Contribution

It demonstrates that ion-proton plasma is the primary source of radio emissions in pulsars, challenging the electron-positron pair model and confirming this through observational and theoretical analysis.

Findings

Ion-proton plasma explains pulsar radio emissions.

Electron-positron pairs are not involved in primary emission.

Confirmed by analysis of radio-frequency characteristics.

Abstract

Evidence derived with minimal assumptions from existing published observations is presented to show that an ion-proton plasma is the source of radio-frequency emission in millisecond and in normal isolated pulsars. There is no primary involvement of electron-positron pairs. This conclusion has also been reached by studies of the plasma composition based on well-established particle-physics processes in neutron stars with positive polar-cap corotational charge density. This work has been published in a series of papers which are also summarized here. It is now confirmed by simple analyses of the observed radio-frequency characteristics, and its implications for the further study of neutron stars are outlined.