Related papers: Dissipation of the striped pulsar wind
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…
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…
A pulsar wind is a relativistic outflow dominated by Poynting energy at its base. Based on the standard ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) with the ordered magnetic field, the observed slow expansion $v_{\rm…
The elongated bright structures above solar flare loops are suggested to be current sheets, where magnetic reconnection takes place. Observations have revealed various characteristics of the current sheet; however, their physical origin…
Since the launch of the Fermi telescope more than five years ago, many new gamma-ray pulsars have been discovered with intriguing properties challenging our current understanding of pulsar physics. Observation of the Crab pulsar furnish…
I outline, from a theoretical and somewhat personal perspective, significant features of Pulsar Wind Nebulae as Cosmic Accelerators. I discuss recent studies of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe). I pay special attention to the recently discovered…
The origin of radio emission from plerions is considered. Recent observations suggest that radio emitting electrons are presently accelerated rather than having been injected at early stages of the plerion evolution. The observed flat…
We present first results of three dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamical simulations of Pulsar Wind Nebulae. They show that the kink instability and magnetic dissipation inside these nebulae may be the key processes allowing to…
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…
Pulsar winds are the ideal environment for the study of non-linear electromagnetic waves. It is generally thought that a pulsar launches a striped wind, a magnetohydrodynamic entropy wave, where plasma sheets carried along with the flow…
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…
Recent observations of the polarisation of the optical pulses from the Crab pulsar motivated detailed comparative studies of the emission predicted by the polar cap, the outer gap and the two-pole caustics models. In this work, we study the…
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…
Using a simple two-dimensional, zero-beta model, we explore the manner by which reconnection at a current sheet releases and dissipates free magnetic energy. We find that only a small fraction (3%-11% depending on current sheet size) of the…
The present work is our first attempt to understand the role of reconnection in the pulsar magnetosphere. Our discussion is based on the observationaly infered fact that, as the pulsar spins down, the region of closed corotating dipolar…
We use kinetic particle-in-cell and magnetohydrodynamic simulations supported by an observational dataset to investigate magnetic reconnection in clusters of null points in space plasma. The magnetic configuration under investigation is…
Fast magnetosonic waves in a magnetically-dominated plasma are investigated. In the pulsar wind, these waves may transport a significant fraction of the energy flux. It is shown that the nonlinear steepening and subsequent formation of…
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…
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…
We analyze the evolution of current driven kink instabilities of a highly magnetized relativistic plasma column, focusing in particular on its dissipation properties. The instability evolution leads to the formation of thin current sheets…