Related papers: A Tale of Two Current Sheets
Magnetic reconnection before flux cancellation in the solar photosphere when two opposite-polarity photospheric magnetic fragments are approaching one another is usually modelled by assuming that a small so-called "floating current sheet"…
A solution to the sigma problem - that of finding a mechanism capable of converting Poynting energy flux to particle-borne energy flux in a pulsar wind - was proposed several years ago by Coroniti and Michel who considered a particular…
We review basic theoretical concepts in particle acceleration, with particular emphasis on processes likely to occur in regions of magnetic reconnection. Several new developments are discussed, including detailed studies of reconnection in…
Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are clouds of the magnetized relativistic electron/positron plasma supplied from the central pulsar. However, the number of radio-emitting particles inside a PWN is larger than the expectation from the study of…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process in various astrophysical, space, and laboratory environments. Many pieces of evidence for magnetic reconnection have been uncovered. However, its specific processes that could be…
Contopoulos 2019 proposed that a dissipation zone develops in the magnetosphere of young pulsars at the edge of the closed-line region beyond the light cylinder. This is necessary in order to supply the charge carriers that will establish…
We review observations of several classes of neutron-star-powered outflows: pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe) inside shell supernova remnants (SNRs), PWNe interacting directly with interstellar medium (ISM), and magnetar-powered outflows. We…
The synchrotron-emitting nebulae formed by energetic winds from young pulsars provide information on a wide range phenomena that contribute to their structure. High resolution X-ray observations reveal jets and toroidal structures in many…
The evolution of the non-thermal emission emitted by pulsar wind nebulae is generally calculated using spatially-independent particle transport models. Although useful, these models implicitly assume that the source of non-thermal particles…
Unpulsed, high-energy emission from pulsar binaries can be attributed to the interaction of a pulsar wind with that of a companion star. At the shock between the outflows, particles carried away from the pulsar magnetosphere are accelerated…
Recent advances in numerical simulations of magnetically arrested accretion onto supermassive black holes have shed light on the formation and dynamics of magnetospheric current sheets near the black hole horizon. By considering the pair…
From pulsar scintillations we infer the presence of sheet-like structures in the ISM; it has been suggested that these are current sheets. Current sheets probably play an important role in heating the solar corona, and there is evidence for…
Surprisingly, the chronology of nearly 50 years of the pulsar magnetosphere and pulsar wind research is quite similar to the history of our civilization. Using this analogy, I have tried to outline the main results obtained in this field.…
We investigate a stationary pair production cascade in the outer magnetosphere of an isolated, spinning neutron star. The charge depletion due to global flows of charged particles, causes a large electric field along the magnetic field…
Pulsars are rapidly-rotating neutron stars born out of the death of stars. A diffuse nebula is formed when particles stream from these neutron stars and interact with the ambient medium. These pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are visible across…
Over the last fifty years since the discovery of pulsars, our understanding of where and how pulsars emit the radiation we observe has undergone significant revision. The location and mechanisms of high-energy radiation are intimately tied…
Plasma-filled pulsar magnetospheres contain thin current sheets wherein the charged particles are accelerated by magnetic reconnections to travel at ultra-relativistic speeds. On the other hand, the plasma frequency of the more regular…
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…
Successful phenomenological models of pulsar wind nebulae assume efficient dissipation of the Poynting flux of the magnetized electron-positron wind as well as efficient acceleration of the pairs in the vicinity of the termination shock,…
We explore a new, efficient mechanism that can power toroidally magnetized jets up to two to three times their original terminal velocity after they enter a self-similar phase of magnetic acceleration. Underneath the elongated outflow lobe…