Radio Emission by Soliton Formation in Relativistically Hot Streaming Pulsar Pair Plasmas

TL;DR

This study investigates how relativistically hot electron-positron pair plasmas in pulsars can form stable solitons through streaming instabilities, potentially explaining intense radio emissions observed from pulsars.

Contribution

It demonstrates the formation of superluminal electrostatic solitons in pulsar plasmas using relativistic Particle-in-Cell simulations, identifying specific plasma conditions for soliton formation.

Findings

Superluminal L-mode solitons form at high inverse temperatures and Lorentz factors.

Solitons reach energy densities up to 1.1 x 10^5 erg/cm^3, matching pulsar emission requirements.

Results support soliton-based mechanisms for pulsar radio wave emission.

Abstract

A number of possible pulsar radio emission mechanisms are based on streaming instabilities in relativistically hot electron-positron pair plasmas. At saturation the unstable waves can form, in principle, stable solitary waves which could emit the observed intense radio signals. We searched for the proper plasma parameters which would lead to the formation of solitons, investigated their properties and dynamics as well as the resulting oscillations of electrons and positrons possibly leading to radio wave emission. We utilized a one-dimensional version of the relativistic Particle-in-Cell code ACRONYM initialized with an appropriately parameterized one-dimensional Maxwell-J\"uttner velocity space particle distribution to study the evolution of the resulting streaming instability in a pulsar pair plasma. We found that strong electrostatic superluminal L-mode solitons are formed for plasmas with normalized inverse temperatures $\rho \geq 1.66$ or relative beam drift speeds with Lorentz factors $\gamma > 40$. The parameters of the solitons fulfill the wave emission conditions. For appropriate pulsar parameters the resulting energy densities of superluminal solitons can reach up to $1.1 \times 10^5$ erg$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$, while those of subluminal solitons reach only up to $1.2 \times 10^4$ erg$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$. Estimated energy densities of up to $7 \times 10^{12}$ erg$\cdot$cm$^{-3}$ suffice to explain pulsar nanoshots.