%0 Journal Article
%T Linearly polarized superluminal waves in pulsar winds
%A Ioanna Arka
%A John G. Kirk
%J Physics
%D 2012
%I arXiv
%R 10.1142/S2010194512004461
%X Pulsar winds are the ideal environment for the study of non-linear electromagnetic waves. It is generally thought that a pulsar launches a striped wind, a magnetohydrodynamic entropy wave, where plasma sheets carried along with the flow separate regions of alternating magnetic field. But when the density drops below a critical value, or equivalently for distances from the pulsar greater than a critical radius, a strong superluminal wave can also propagate. In this contribution we discuss the conversion of the equatorial striped wind into a linearly polarized superluminal wave, and we argue that this mode is important for the conversion of Poynting flux to kinetic energy flux before the outflow reaches the termination shock.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.1667v1