The Crab pulsar: ion-proton plasma and high-frequency radio spectrum

Abstract

Salient features of the remarkable band structure seen in the high-frequency interpulse of the Crab pulsar are summarized. It is argued that its source must lie in a current sheet, probably coincident with the open-closed magnetosphere separatrix, and that the mechanism is a form of one-pass free-electron laser. An outward moving electron component in the current sheet interacts with the longitudinal electric field of an inward directed ion–proton Langmuir mode. The band structure is then a natural consequence of the differing charge-to-mass ratios of the ions, which are a return current component of those accelerated, as in almost all pulsars, from the polar cap to the light cylinder.