Escaping Radio Emission from Pulsars: Possible Role of Velocity Shear

Abstract

It is demonstrated that the velocity shear, intrinsic to the e+e- plasma present in the pulsar magnetosphere, can efficiently convert the nonescaping longitudinal Langmuir waves (produced by some kind of a beam or stream instability) into propagating (escaping) electromagnetic waves. It is suggested that this shear-induced transformation may be the basic mechanism needed for the eventual generation of the observed pulsar radio emission.