Related papers: Dissipation in Pulsar Winds
Magnetic dissipation is frequently invoked as a way of powering the observed emission of relativistic flows in Gamma Ray Bursts and Active Galactic Nuclei. Pulsar Wind Nebulae provide closer to home cosmic laboratories which can be used to…
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…
Pulsar Wind Nebulae, and the Crab nebula in particular, are the best cosmic laboratories to investigate the dynamics of magnetized relativistic outflows and particle acceleration up to PeV energies. Multidimensional MHD modeling by means of…
Rapidly rotating neutron stars blow a relativistic, magnetized wind mainly composed of electron-positron pairs. The free expansion of the wind terminates far from the neutron star where a weakly magnetized pulsar wind nebula forms, implying…
We model the inner knot of the Crab Nebula as a synchrotron emission coming from the non-spherical MHD termination shock of relativistic pulsar wind. The post-shock flow is mildly relativistic; as a result the Doppler-beaming has a strong…
We report a detailed study of the magnetic-field structure of the Crab pulsar wind nebula, using the X-ray polarization data in 2--8~keV obtained with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Contamination of the pulsar emission to the data…
The main goal of our present work is to provide, for the first time, a simple computational tool that can be used to compute the brightness, the spectral index, the polarization, the time variability and the spectrum of the non-thermal…
Two-dimensional, relativistic, MHD simulations of pulsar-wind powered nebulae provide strong constraints on the properties of the winds themselves. In particular, they confirm that Poynting flux must be converted into particle energy close…
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…
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,…
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 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 radiation of a pulsar wind is computed assuming that at roughly 10 to 100 light cylinder radii from the star, magnetic energy is dissipated into particle energy. The synchrotron emission of heated particles appears periodic, with, in…
In recent years, it has become a well-established paradigm that many aspects of the physics of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) can be fully accounted for within a relativistic MHD description. Numerical simulations have proven extremely…
Neutron stars generate powerful winds of relativistic particles that form bright synchrotron nebulae around them. Polarimetry provides a unique insight into the geometry and magnetic configuration of the wind, but high-energy measurements…
We present a model for magnetic energy dissipation in a pulsar wind nebula. Better understanding of this process is required to assess the likelihood that certain astrophysical transients may be powered by the spin-down of a "millisecond…
Time-resolved polarisation measurements of pulsars offer an unique insight into the geometry of their emission regions. Such measure\ ments provide observational constraints on the different models proposed for the pulsar emission…
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…
After discussion of observational constraints on the nature of the MHD wind coupling between the Crab Pulsar and the Crab Nebula, the theory of transverse relativistic shock structure is reviewed and applied to the interpretation of the…
A plausible model for the Crab Nebula is one in which a particle dominated, highly relativistic wind from the pulsar passes through a shock front in which the particles attain a power law energy distribution. The electrons and positrons…