PULSAR MAGNETOSPHERES - CLASSICAL AND QUASI-CLASSICAL DESCRIPTIONS

The classical description of the motion of plasmas in pulsar magnetospheres, following the single particle approach, is unacceptable when radiative effects need to be taken into account in the equation of motion. When this happens, a quasi-classical description is required, with deterministic trajectories becoming stochastic, because quantum corrections must be considered. A new extension to the kinetic theory of plasmas, with these macroscopic radiative effects present, is developed in this paper.