Abstract
WE assume that pulsar radiation is generated close to the surface of a neutron star. The production of this radiation clearly involves some sort of coherent motion of relativistic electrons, which are presumed to have been accelerated off the stellar surface by large electric fields along magnetic field lines of force. Rengarajan1 has pointed out that these electrons may scatter against black body photons emitted by the hot neutron star. The hotter the star, the greater is the density of these photons, and the greater the probability that electrons will scatter against them. Our purpose here is to examine the consequences of such collisions and the conditions required for them to take place.
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References
Rengarajan, T. N., Nature phys. Sci., 242, 102 (1972).
Jackson, J. D., Classical Electrodynamics (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1962).
Mitchell, T. P., Chirinella, J., and Lingerfelt, J. E., Plasma Phys., 13, 387 (1971).
Tademaru, E., Astrophys. J., 172, 327 (1972).
Sturrock, P. A., Astrophys. J., 164, 529 (1971).
Greenstein, G., and McClintock, J., Science (in the press).
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TADEMARU, E., GREENSTEIN, G. Effects of thermal photon scattering on relativistic electrons near pulsars. Nature 251, 39–40 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/251039a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/251039a0
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