2006A&A...445..779F

The potential role of a diocotron instability in causing drifting sub-pulses in radio pulsar emission is investigated for aligned magnetic rotators. It is assumed that the out-flowing plasma above a pulsar polar cap consists of an initially axially symmetric, hollow beam of relativistic electron positron pair plasma which carries an electric charge as well as a current. The occurrence of instability depends on shear in the angular velocity distribution of the beam as a function of axial distance. Instability occurs under typical pulsar conditions at mode numbers ≤40. It destroys the symmetry of the equilibrium configuration and leads to a carousel of density columns which rotates at fixed angular pattern speed. The process is applied to two pulsars with observed carousels of drifting sub-pulses, and the diocotron instability at corresponding mode number and axial distance is used as a diagnostic for the charge and current density of the polar flow.