Related papers: Of Winds and Waves
Bow shock pulsar wind nebulae are observed with a variety of complex morphologies at different wavelengths, most likely due to differences in the magnetic field strength and pulsar wind geometry. Here we present a detailed analysis, showing…
For pulsars similar to the one in the Crab Nebula, most of the energy input to the surrounding wind nebula occurs on a timescale of less than 1000 years; during this time, the nebula expands into freely expanding supernova ejecta. On a…
Pulsars, or more generally rotation powered neutron stars, are excellent factories of antimatter in the Galaxy, in the form of pairs of electrons and positrons. Electrons are initially extracted from the surface of the star by the intense…
The structure and the evolution of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) are studied by means of two-dimensional axisymmetric relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) simulations. After the first imaging of the Crab Nebula with Chandra, a growing…
Considerable progress has been made in understanding the hydrodynamics, but only to a certain extent the magnetohydrodynamics, of shaping bipolar outflows forming protoplanetary nebulae (PPNs) and planetary nebulae (PNs). In particular,…
Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) are ideal astrophysical laboratories where high energy relativistic phenomena can be investigated. They are close, well resolved in our observations, and the knowledg derived in their study has a strong impact in…
A recent research shows that particles with a spectrum of a relativistic Maxwellian plus a high-energy tail can be accelerated by relativistic collisionless shocks. We investigate the possibility of the high-energy particles with this new…
We briefly reviewed some recent progress on the studies of supernova remnants (SNRs), including the radio SNRs (the structure, polarization, spectrum etc.), observational characteristics of X-ray emission, pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe),…
The role pulsar wind nebulae play in producing our locally observed cosmic ray spectrum remains murky, yet intriguing. Pulsar wind nebulae are born and evolve in conjunction with SNRs, which are favored sites of Galactic cosmic ray…
The Crab nebula and its pulsar (referred to together as "Crab") have historically played a central role in astrophysics. True to their legacy, several unique discoveries have been made recently. The Crab was found to emit gamma-ray…
We present hydrodynamical simulations, using a 2-D two component model (ambient medium and pul sar wind have different specific heat ratios), of bow shocks in a representative regime for pu lsar wind driven bow-shock nebulae. We also…
In the late 1960s the discovery of the Crab pulsar in its associated supernova remnant, launched a new field in supernova remnant research: the study of pulsar-driven or plerionic supernova remnants. In these type of remnants, the…
Context. We propose that the X-ray filaments emerging from selected bow shock pulsar wind nebulae are due to a charge-separated outflow of electrons and/or positrons escaping the nebula and propagating along the local Galactic magnetic…
Diffusive TeV gamma-ray emissions have been recently discovered extending beyond the pulsar wind nebulae of a few middle-aged pulsars, implying that energetic electron/positron pairs are escaping from the pulsar wind nebulae and radiating…
Pulsar wind nebulae are efficient particle accelerators, and yet the processes at work remain elusive. Self-generated, microturbulence is too weak in relativistic magnetized shocks to accelerate particles over a wide energy range,…
Magnetohydrodynamical simulations are presented of a magnetized pulsar wind interacting directly with the interstellar medium, or, in the case of a surrounding supernova remnant, with the associated freely expanding ejecta of the progenitor…
I review the constraints placed on relativistic pulsar winds by comparing optical and X-ray images of the inner Crab Nebula on the one hand with two-dimensional MHD simulations on the other. The various proposals in the literature for…
We investigate the dynamics of bow shock nebulae created by pulsars moving supersonically through a partially ionized interstellar medium. A fraction of interstellar neutral hydrogen atoms penetrating into the tail region of a pulsar wind…
In the last decade, the relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modelling of pulsar wind nebulae, and of the Crab nebula in particular, has been highly successful, with many of the observed dynamical and emission properties reproduced down…
A wind nebula generating extended X-ray emission was recently detected surrounding Swift 1834.9-0846. This is the first magnetar for which such a (pulsar) wind nebula (PWN) was found. I demonstrate that Swift 1834.9-0846's nebula can be…