Interpole Communication in Radio Pulsars and the Resulting Theoretical Challenges

Here we discuss some recent, and less recent, radio observations that demonstrate an intimate link between the emission generated by opposite magnetic poles of neutron stars. More specifically, there are examples of pulsars which show quasi-periodic brightening of the emission generated by both poles with a time delay which remains fixed on a timescale of at least years. This implies that the opposite magnetic poles do not operate independently of each other, leading to the question about the nature of the communication channel. In the case of PSR B1055-52 this time delay is very large, corresponding to a light travel distance of many times the light cylinder radius. A number of physical models are explored and significant objections can be made to each model. So the communication channel between the magnetic poles of pulsars remains elusive, although its understanding could prove crucial to understanding the large-scale structure of magnetospheres.