Related papers: Three-dimensional Analytical Description of Magnet…
Fast reconnection in magnetically dominated plasmas is widely invoked in models of dissipation in pulsar winds, gamma-ray flares in the Crab nebula, and to explain the radio nanoshots of pulsars. When current sheets evolve reaching a…
A rotating star with a monopole (or split monopole) magnetic field gives the simplest, prototype model of a rotationally driven stellar wind. Winds from compact objects, in particular neutron stars, carry strong magnetic fields with modest…
We present first-principles relativistic particle-in-cell simulations of the oblique pulsar magnetosphere with pair formation. The magnetosphere starts to form with particles extracted from the surface of the neutron star. These particles…
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…
By means of self-consistent 3D MHD numerical simulations, we analyze magnetized solar-like stellar winds and their dependence on the plasma-beta parameter. We adopt in our simulations a heating parameter described by gamma, which is…
We review current theoretical ideas on pulsar winds and their surrounding nebulae. Relativistic MHD models of the wind of the aligned rotator, and of the striped wind, together with models of magnetic dissipation are discussed. It is shown…
Neutron stars are fascinating astrophysical objects immersed in strong gravitational and electromagnetic fields, at the edge of our current theories. These stars manifest themselves mostly as pulsars, emitting a timely very stable and…
Due to computational requirements and numerical difficulties associated with coordinate singularity in spherical geometry, fully dynamic 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of massive star winds are not readily available. Here we…
Pulsars show irregularities in their pulsed radio emission that originate from propagation effects and the intrinsic activity of the source. In this work, we investigate the role played by magnetic reconnection and the formation of…
We conduct force-free simulations of a single neutron star undergoing orbital motion in flat spacetime, mimicking the trajectory of the star about the center of mass on a compact binary system. Our attention is focused on the kinetic energy…
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 spin-down power of a pulsar is thought to be carried away in an MHD wind in which, at least close to the star, the energy transport is dominated by Poynting flux. The pulsar drives a low-frequency wave in this wind, consisting of…
Magnetospheres of many astrophysical objects can be accurately described by the low-inertia (or "force-free") limit of MHD. We present a new numerical method for solution of equations of force-free relativistic MHD based on the…
The presence of a companion wind in neutron star binary systems can form a contact discontinuity well within the pulsar's light cylinder, effectively creating a waveguide that confines the pulsar's electromagnetic fields and significantly…
We present results of 3D numerical simulations of magnetically confined, radiatively driven stellar winds of massive stars, conducted using the astrophysical MHD code Pluto, with a focus on understanding the rotational variability of radio…
Pulsar winds have been shown to be preferred sites of particle acceleration and high-energy radiation. Numerous studies have been conducted to better characterize the general structure of such relativistic plasmas in isolated systems.…
As is well known, pulsars are extremely stable rotators. However, although slowly, they spin down thanks to brake mechanisms, which are in fact still subject of intense investigation in the literature. Since pulsars are usually modelled as…
(abridged)The structure formed by the shocked winds of a massive star and a non-accreting pulsar in a binary suffers periodic and random variations of orbital and non-linear dynamical origin. For the 1st time, we simulate in 3 D the…
We present analytic and numerical models of the `cluster wind' resulting from the multiple interactions of the winds ejected by the stars of a dense cluster of massive stars. We consider the case in which the distribution of stars (i.e.,…
Pulsar wind nebulae are a prominent class of very high energy (E > 0.1 TeV) Galactic sources. Their Gamma-ray spectra are interpreted as due to inverse Compton scattering of ultrarelativistic electrons on the ambient photons, whereas the…