The theory of pulsar wind nebulae

Abstract

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 morphology of PWNe as seen in the X-rays. This success has prompted developments aimed at using multi-wavelength observations of these nebulae as a diagnostics of the hidden physics of the pulsar wind and of the mechanism(s) through which particles are accelerated in these sources. I will discuss these most recent developments in terms of the information that we infer from detailed comparison of simulated non-thermal emission with current observations.

10 pages, Invited Review Talk at the HEPRO IV Confernce, Heidelberg, Germany. To be published in International Journal of Modern Physics

References in corpus (3)

• Observation of an anomalous positron abundance in the cosmic radiation
• Heating and Non-thermal Particle Acceleration in Relativistic, Transverse Magnetosonic Shock Waves in Proton-Electron-Positron Plasmas
• Non-thermal emission from relativistic MHD simulations of PWNe: from synchrotron to inverse Compton

Cited by in corpus (33)

• The origin of Galactic cosmic rays: challenges to the standard paradigm
• Detection of a $\gamma$-ray halo around Geminga with the Fermi-LAT and implications for the positron flux
• Pulsar-Wind Nebulae: Recent Progress in Observations and Theory
• Contribution of pulsars to cosmic-ray positrons in light of recent observation of inverse-Compton halos
• Cosmic-Ray Propagation in Light of Recent Observation of Geminga
• Dark matter vs. astrophysics in the interpretation of AMS-02 electron and positron data
• Evidences of low-diffusion bubbles around Galactic pulsars
• Constraints on particle acceleration sites in the Crab Nebula from relativistic MHD simulations
• ASTRI Mini-Array Core Science at the Observatorio del Teide
• IceCube Search for High-Energy Neutrino Emission from TeV Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Features in cosmic-ray lepton data unveil the properties of nearby cosmic accelerators
• Physics in Very Strong Magnetic Fields: Introduction and Overview
• H.E.S.S. and Suzaku observations of the Vela X pulsar wind nebula
• Modelling Jets, Tori and Flares in Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• FLUKA cross sections for cosmic-ray interactions with the DRAGON2 code
• Modeling the γ-ray Pulsar Wind Nebulae population in our Galaxy
• Disentangling multiple high-energy emission components in the Vela X pulsar wind nebula with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Acceleration of X-ray Emitting Electrons in the Crab Nebula
• From young to old: the evolutionary path of Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Theoretical interpretation of Pass 8 Fermi-LAT $e^{+}+e^{-}$ data
• Synchrotron Pair Production Equilibrium in Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection
• Modelling the bow shock Pulsar Wind Nebulae propagating through a non-uniform ISM
• Spatially-Dependent Modelling of Pulsar Wind Nebula G0.9+0.1
• Selected Topics in Cosmic Ray Physics
• Identifying Galactic Sources of High-Energy Neutrinos
• The Galactic high mass X-ray binary population with Fermi -LAT
• Multidimensional relativistic MHD simulations of Pulsar Wind Nebulae: dynamics and emission
• Electron acceleration at pulsar wind termination shocks
• Signatures of Recent Cosmic-Ray Acceleration in the High-Latitude $\gamma$-Ray Sky
• Probing the astrophysical origin of high-energy cosmic-ray electrons with Monte Carlo simulation
• Constraining the production of cosmic rays by pulsars
• Unveiling the nature of the unidentified gamma-ray sources 4FGL J1908.6+0915e, HESS J1907+089/HOTS J1907+091, and 3HWC J1907+085 in the sky region of the magnetar SGR 1900+14
• New estimate for the contribution of the Geminga pulsar to the positron excess