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How Do Pulsars Produce Pulses?

-- | December 15, 2013

Question: Hi ! I see this question some years ago on some site ( Astronomy are build with “somes”, are they ? LOL ), but answers ( none of them ) satisfies my curiosity. The question is about Pulsars. If Pulsars are Neutron Stars ( binary ? ) how they produce a large amount of eletromagnetic waves ? Physics tell us that it’s necessary electrons to produce an eletromagnetic field. So, where are they ? I am Brazilian, living in South Brazil, as well “Ham” Radio for the past 40 yrs, and hear just here on “The Kingdom of My BackYards” (LOL) some Pulsars, with some Home-Brew gear ( a SDR Receiver, HB Antenna, et alii ). My background is Physics and Informatics, so don’t be “light” on an answer – get me some Mathematic facts, if they really exist ! I can’t accept that “Neutron Stars” are so neutral as all of World thinks, there is something “new” there… TNX ! — Silva

Answer: My colleagues at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center have produced a very nice description of the physics behind the mechanism which produces the pulsed emission we observe from pulsars. See the Imagine the Universe description of pulsars for further information. For more information on the physics behind the pulsar radiation process see the chapter on Pulsars in Essential Radio Astronomy. The physics of pulsars is actually pretty basic, and can be thought of as a magnetic dipole whose axis is offset relative to the spin axis of the pulsar. As electrons spiral into the poles of the magnetic dipole the give off radiation, which when viewed from far away looks like a pulse of radiation whose frequency is equal to the spin rate of the pulsar.

Jeff Mangum

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