A Tale of Two Current Sheets
arXiv:1009.2798 · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-17251-9_13
Abstract
I outline a new model of particle acceleration in the current sheet separating the closed from the open field lines in the force-free model of pulsar magnetospheres, based on reconnection at the light cylinder and "auroral" acceleration occurring in the return current channel that connects the light cylinder to the neutron star surface. I discuss recent studies of Pulsar Wind Nebulae, which find that pair outflow rates in excess of those predicted by existing theories of pair creation occur, and use those results to point out that dissipation of the magnetic field in a pulsar's wind upstream of the termination shock is restored to life as a viable model for the solution of the "" problem as a consequence of the lower wind 4-velocity implied by the larger mass loading.
17 pages, 6 figures, Invited Review, Proceedings of the "ICREA Workshop on The High-Energy Emission from Pulsars and their Systems", Sant Cugat, Spain, April 12-16, 2010
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Cited by in corpus (7)
- Pulsar Wind Nebulae as Cosmic Pevatrons: A Current Sheet's Tale
- Modelling the high-energy emission from gamma-ray binaries using numerical relativistic hydrodynamics
- Three-dimensional Spontaneous Magnetic Reconnection
- Twinkling pulsar wind nebulae in the synchrotron cut-off regime and the gamma-ray flares in the Crab Nebula
- On the origin of sub-TeV gamma-ray pulsed emission from rotating neutron stars
- Superluminal waves in pulsar winds
- Stimulated-emission based model of fast radio bursts