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Confinement of the Crab pulsar's wind by its supernova remnant
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1984
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A steady‑state, spherically symmetric magnetohydrodynamic model of the Crab nebula is constructed. The study aims to incorporate weak magnetization of the pulsar wind to satisfy boundary conditions and compute synchrotron radiation self‑consistently. The authors model a relativistic positronic pulsar wind terminated by an MHD shock, using a weakly magnetized wind (~0.3 % of particle luminosity) to match remnant boundary conditions and calculate synchrotron radiation.
view Abstract Citations (900) References (107) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Confinement of the Crab pulsar's wind by its supernova remnant. Kennel, C. F. ; Coroniti, F. V. Abstract A steady state, spherically symmetric, magnetohydrodynamic model of the Crab nebula is constructed. A highly relativistic positronic pulsar wind is terminated by a strong MHD shock that decelerates the flow and increases its pressure to match boundary conditions imposed by the recently discovered supernova remnant that surrounds the nebula. If the magnetic luminosity of the pulsar wind upstream of the shock is about 0.3 percent of its particle luminosity, the pressure and velocity boundary conditions imposed by the remnant place the shock where it is inferred to be: near the outer boundary of an underluminous region observed to surround the pulsar. It is necessary to include the weak magnetization of the wind to satisfy the boundary conditions and to calculate the regular synchrotron radiation self-consistently. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: August 1984 DOI: 10.1086/162356 Bibcode: 1984ApJ...283..694K Keywords: Cosmic Plasma; Crab Nebula; Pulsars; Stellar Winds; Supernova Remnants; Boundary Conditions; Boundary Value Problems; Flow Velocity; Magnetohydrodynamics; Shock Waves; Astrophysics full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (2)