Lecturer: Dr. Benoit Cerutti Affiliation: Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble [IPAG], Université Grenoble Alpes Abstract: Pulsars shine throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to energetic gamma rays, but the origin of the emitted radiation is still poorly understood. The recent development of global particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations allows, for the first time, to address this problem from first principles and self-consistently. Three-dimensional radiative PIC simulations show that the equatorial current sheet forming in the pulsar wind is the main site of particle acceleration, instead of electrostatic gaps within the co-rotating magnetosphere as usually assumed. Relativistic reconnection dissipates magnetic energy which is then efficiently channeled into energetic particles and high-energy synchrotron radiation. Synthetic lightcurves, spectra and polarization present robust features reminiscent of observed gamma-ray pulsars. PIC simulations also suggest that general relativistic effects are essential to ignite pair creation at the star polar-cap, which may power the radio emission. Additional details of the upcoming Astrophysics' seminars can be found on the following link. ‏האירוע הזה כולל שיחת וידאו ב-Google Hangouts. הצטרף: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/mail.huji.ac.il/astrophysics?hceid=bWFpbC5odWppLmFjLmlsX2c0czhydDlpcmhwZzRvdGNybWIzZGFqcjdvQGdyb3VwLmNhbGVuZGFyLmdvb2dsZS5jb20.p6oijaj61tqulrebjv7o5lmr2k&hs=121