Numerical simulations of composite supernova remnants for small $\sigma$ pulsar wind nebulae
Abstract
Composite supernova remnants consist of a pulsar wind nebula located inside a shell-type remnant. The presence of a shell has implications on the evolution of the nebula, although the converse is generally not true. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. The first aim is to determine the effect of the pulsar's initial luminosity and spin-down rate, the supernova ejecta mass, and density of the interstellar medium on the evolution of a spherically-symmetric, composite supernova remnant expanding into a homogeneous medium. The second aim is to investigate the evolution of the magnetic field in the pulsar wind nebula when the the composite remnant expands into a non-uniform interstellar medium. The Euler conservation equations for inviscid flow, together with the magnetohydrodynamic induction law in the kinematic limit, are solved numerically for a number of scenarios where the ratio of magnetic to particle energy is . The simulations in the first part of the paper is solved in a one-dimensional configuration. In the second part of the paper, the effect of an inhomogeneous medium on the evolution is studied using a two-dimensional, axis-symmetric configuration.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1309.6087,
title = {Numerical simulations of composite supernova remnants for small $\sigma$ pulsar wind nebulae},
author = {M. J. Vorster and S. E. S. Ferreira and O. C. de Jager and A. Djannati-Ataï},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.6087},
year = {2013}
}