Response of a relativistically streaming pulsar plasma

The response tensor is derived for a relativistically streaming, strongly magnetized, one-dimensional J & uuml;ttner distribution of electrons and positrons, referred to as a pulsar plasma. This is used to produce a general treatment of wave dispersion in a pulsar plasma. Specifically, relativistic streaming, the spread in Lorentz factors in a pulsar rest frame and cyclotron resonances are taken into account. Approximations to the response tensor are derived by making approximations to relativistic plasma dispersion functions appearing in the general form of the response tensor. The cold-plasma limit, the highly relativistic limit and limits related to cyclotron resonances are considered. The theory developed in this paper has applications to generalized Faraday rotation in pulsars and magnetars.