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In the course of the life of a massive star, wind-wind interaction can give rise to the formation of circumstellar nebulae which are both predicted and observed in the nature. We present generic model calculations to predict the properties…
Recent work on the properties of superluminal waves in pulsar winds is summarized. It is speculated that these waves play an important role in the termination shock that divides the wind from the surrounding nebula.
Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe), structures powered by energetic pulsars, are known for their detection across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, with diverse morphologies and spectral behaviour between these bands. The temporal evolution of…
(Abridged) We interpret gamma ray bursts as relativistic, electromagnetic explosions. Specifically, we propose that they are created when a rotating, relativistic, stellar-mass progenitor loses much of its rotational energy in the form of a…
Self-oscillations underlie many natural phenomena such as heartbeat, ocean waves, and the pulsation of variable stars. From pendulum clocks to the behavior of animal groups, self-oscillation is one of the keys to the understanding of…
Recent observations of the Crab Nebula (Rudy et al 2015) have maintained its reputation for high energy astrophysical enlightenment and its use as a testbed for theories of the behaviour of magnetized, relativistic plasma. In particular,…
I propose that the moving `wisps' near the center of the Crab Nebula result from nonlinear Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in the equatorial plane of the shocked pulsar wind. Recent observations suggest that the wisps trace out circular…
A complex event observed in the radio pulses from the Crab pulsar in 1997 included echoes, a dispersive delay, and large changes in intensity. It is shown that these phenomena were due to refraction at the edge of a plasma cloud in the…
The well known Crab Nebula is at the center of the SN1054 supernova remnant. It consists of a rotationally-powered pulsar interacting with a surrounding nebula through a relativistic particle wind. The emissions originating from the pulsar…
The radio, optical, X-ray and gamma-ray nebulae that surround many pulsars are thought to arise from synchrotron and inverse Compton emission. The energy powering this emission, as well as the magnetic fields and relativistic particles, are…
We conduct 2D axisymmetrical hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the interaction of a collimated fast wind (CFW; wide jets) with a spherical AGB wind. The code includes radiative cooling. We find that the shape of the planetary nebula…
We interpret $\gamma$-ray flares from the Crab Nebula as the signature of turbulence in the pulsar's electromagnetic outflow. Turbulence is triggered upstream by dynamical instability of the wind's oscillating magnetic field, and…
The recently discovered gamma-ray flares from the Crab nebula are generally attributed to the magnetic energy release in a highly magnetized region within the nebula. I argue that such a region naturally arises in the polar region of the…
Observations of linear structure connecting pulsars to gamma-ray halos reveal injection of TeV electrons into the interstellar medium (ISM). In some cases, this could be attributed to nearly scattering-free electron transport along…
A wind nebula, generating extended X-ray emission, was recently detected surrounding Swift J1834.9-0846. This is the first magnetar for which such a wind nebula was found. Here, we investigate whether there is a plausible scenario where the…
In this paper we explore the dynamics of ionization bounded planetary nebulae after the termination of the fast stellar wind. When the stellar wind becomes negligible, the hot, shocked bubble depressurizes and the thermal pressure of the…
The kinematics and physical conditions of the bipolar planetary nebula M 2-48 are analysed from high and low dispersion long-slit spectra. Previous CCD narrow-band optical observations have suggested that this nebula is mainly formed by a…
The ~400 MeV flaring emission from the Crab Nebula is naturally explained as the result of an abrupt reduction in the mass-loading of the pulsar wind. Very few particles are then available to carry the current required to maintain wave…
The non-linear dynamics of driven oscillations in the size of a spherical bubble are mapped to the dynamics of a Newtonian particle in a potential within the incompressible liquid regime. The compressible liquid regime, which is important…
We study the dynamics of relativistic electromagnetic explosions as a possible mechanism for the production of Gamma-Ray Bursts. We propose that a rotating relativistic stellar-mass progenitor loses much of its spin energy in the form of an…