1999/02/19 by Andrei Gruzinov, Gruzinov, Andrei · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Geophysics and Sensor Technology #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9902288
8 pages, submitted to ApJ
arxiv created 1999/02/19 · openalex publication_date 1999/02/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We show that flows of pure electromagnetic energy are subject to instabilities familiar from hydrodynamics and plasma physics---Kelvin-Helmholtz and screw instabilities. In the framework of force-free electrodynamics, it is found that electric-like tangential discontinuities are Kelvin-Helmholtz-unstable. All non-trivial cylindrically symmetrical magnetic configurations are screw-unstable. The Poynting jet of the Goldreich-Julian pulsar is screw-unstable if the current density in the polar cap region exceeds the charge density times the speed of light. This may be the process that determines the pulsar luminosity.