{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"cc5053668bdc7c2c95cda87921e80bd5052aa0186a3477f26a5ba926fc7891e8","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["4f9d3a2a255c76bfee5f3d56ec9e363dbe4cc640e72f0b5676d94a88db17ec38","ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b"],"salt":"505953f7ec5ab31637a4666248d42421a8c14de0ec230a4c7cc8d01170d3071f","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"mechanism","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"astro.pulsars-magnetars.coherent-radio-mechanism","kind":"phenomenon","literature_status":"contested","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"Pulsar radio waves are so bright that huge numbers of electrons must radiate in step (coherently), and the process that synchronizes them is not established.","posed_since":"1968","precise":"Pulsar radio brightness temperatures exceed $10^{25}\\,\\mathrm{K}$. Identify the mechanism (plasma instabilities in the outflow, coherent curvature radiation from charge bunches, direct emission from nonstationary pair discharges) that reproduces the mean spectrum (flux ~ nu^-1.6), radius-to-frequency mapping, polarization and the population of luminosities. Answer: a first-principles kinetic model reproducing these observables.","problem_ref":"4f9d3a2a255c76bfee5f3d56ec9e363dbe4cc640e72f0b5676d94a88db17ec38","references":"","settled_by":"A kinetic model that predicts spectra, polarization and luminosity versus spin-down power matching population data from FAST and MeerKAT surveys.","status_note":"2020: kinetic simulations showed that nonstationary pair discharges at the polar cap emit coherent electromagnetic waves, a candidate mechanism now being tested against observed spectra.","title":"What mechanism produces coherent pulsar radio emission?","topic_ref":null},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"5aa5520f941ba6e426705718972dc5f8ac44eb18321153be940ed1bfc235431a","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"2bf64beb9a20e5ce7e37323bf3533f9c6444ce16e63eb8c9bf592f0edb61955c","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"hpQqf_gxQCYNktTeVkSm5SsY2TXA0zF3crhS1C0z74x-knJi6TeSIFTfZjYY4Sbfi0Uo46R7OrV-t1ACcPLIAA"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"5aa5520f941ba6e426705718972dc5f8ac44eb18321153be940ed1bfc235431a","leaf_index":2398}