Diocotron Modes in Pulsar Magnetospheres: Charge Diffusion and Implications for Radio Emission Variability
This work uses 3D particle-in-cell simulations to study the diocotron instability in pulsar magnetospheres. The simulations show that this plasma instability evolves into a dominant, stable m=1 mode at late times. This mode drives charge diffusion toward the light cylinder and produces electric field perturbations that can explain observed radio emission variability like nulling and amplitude modulation.