ULTRARELATIVISTIC ENVELOPE SOLITONS IN A MAGNETIZED ELECTRON-POSITRON PLASMA

The nonlinear propagation of intense electromagnetic radiation in a pulsar magnetosphere is investigated. The radiation is considered to be a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave, in whose field electrons and positrons acquire ultrarelativistic velocities. The nonlinear frequency shift due to the wave-plasma interaction is found to cause the wave localization, and it produces a new kind of envelope soliton, which in coupling with the ambient magnetic field generates intense ambipolar field along the magnetic lines. © 1990 The American Physical Society.