IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v422y2003i6928d10.1038_nature01477.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nanosecond radio bursts from strong plasma turbulence in the Crab pulsar

Author

Listed:
  • T. H. Hankins

    (Physics Department, New Mexico Tech)

  • J. S. Kern

    (Physics Department, New Mexico Tech
    National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

  • J. C. Weatherall

    (Physics Department, New Mexico Tech)

  • J. A. Eilek

    (Physics Department, New Mexico Tech)

Abstract

The Crab pulsar was discovered1 by the occasional exceptionally bright radio pulses it emits, subsequently dubbed ‘giant’ pulses. Only two other pulsars are known to emit giant pulses2,3. There is no satisfactory explanation for the occurrence of giant pulses, nor is there a complete theory of the pulsar emission mechanism in general. Competing models for the radio emission mechanism can be distinguished by the temporal structure of their coherent emission. Here we report the discovery of isolated, highly polarized, two-nanosecond subpulses within the giant radio pulses from the Crab pulsar. The plasma structures responsible for these emissions must be smaller than one metre in size, making them by far the smallest objects ever detected and resolved outside the Solar System, and the brightest transient radio sources in the sky. Only one of the current models—the collapse of plasma-turbulent wave packets in the pulsar magnetosphere—can account for the nanopulses we observe.

Suggested Citation

  • T. H. Hankins & J. S. Kern & J. C. Weatherall & J. A. Eilek, 2003. "Nanosecond radio bursts from strong plasma turbulence in the Crab pulsar," Nature, Nature, vol. 422(6928), pages 141-143, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:422:y:2003:i:6928:d:10.1038_nature01477
    DOI: 10.1038/nature01477
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01477
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature01477?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:422:y:2003:i:6928:d:10.1038_nature01477. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.