A novel mechanism of pair creation in pulsar magnetospheres

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new mechanism where relativistic centrifugal force in pulsar magnetospheres amplifies electrostatic fields to the Schwinger limit, causing prolific electron-positron pair creation near the light cylinder, vastly exceeding previous density estimates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pair creation mechanism driven by centrifugal force amplification of electrostatic fields in pulsar magnetospheres.

Findings

Pair density exceeds Goldreich-Julian density by five orders of magnitude.

The process is highly efficient in normal period pulsars (~1 sec).

Electrostatic field approaches Schwinger limit due to centrifugal effects.

Abstract

In this paper we study the possibility of efficient pair production in a pulsar's magnetosphere. It has been shown that by means of the relativistic centrifugal force the electrostatic field exponentially amplifies. As a result the field approaches the Schwinger limit leading to pair creation process in the light cylinder area where the effects of rotation are very efficient. Analysing the parameters of the normal period ($\sim 1$ sec) pulsars we have found that the process is so efficient that the number density of electron-positron pairs exceeds the Goldreich-Julian density by five orders of magnitude.