Curvature Radiation in Pulsar Magnetospheric Plasma

Abstract

We consider the curvature radiation of the point-like charge moving relativistically along curved magnetic field lines through a pulsar magnetospheric electron-positron plasma. We demonstrate that the radiation power is largely suppressed as compared with the vacuum case, but still at a considerable level, high enough to explain the observed pulsar luminosities. The emitted radiation is polarized perpendicularly to the plane of the curved magnetic filed lines coincides with $ which can freely escape from the magnetospheric plasma. Our results strongly support the coherent curvature radiation by the spark-associated solitons as a plausible mechanism of pulsar radio emission.