The theory of pulsar wind nebulae
Abstract
I review the current status of our theoretical understanding of Pulsar Winds and associated nebulae (PWNe). In recent years, axisymmetric models of pulsar winds with a latitude dependent energy flux have proved very successful at explaining the morphology of PWNe as seen in the X-rays. This success has prompted developments aimed at using multi-wavelength observations of these nebulae as a diagnostics of the hidden physics of the pulsar wind and of the mechanism(s) through which particles are accelerated in these sources. I will discuss these most recent developments in terms of the information that we infer from detailed comparison of simulated non-thermal emission with current observations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1312.5945,
title = {The theory of pulsar wind nebulae},
author = {E. Amato},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.5945},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
10 pages, Invited Review Talk at the HEPRO IV Confernce, Heidelberg, Germany. To be published in International Journal of Modern Physics