On the broad-band synchrotron spectra of pulsar wind nebulae
arXiv:1812.10827 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aafb2e
Abstract
As shown by broad-band observations, pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are characterized by a broken power-law spectrum of synchrotron emission. Based on the modern magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence theories, we investigate the re-acceleration of electrons in the PWN through the adiabatic stochastic acceleration (ASA), which arises from fundamental dynamics of MHD turbulence. The ASA acts to flatten the injected energy spectrum of electrons at low energies, while synchrotron cooling results in a steep spectrum of electrons at high energies. Their dominance in different energy ranges leads to a flat radio spectrum () and a steep X-ray spectrum. Our analytical spectral shapes generally agree well with the observed synchrotron spectra of radio- and X-ray-bright PWNe. The spectral break corresponding to the balance between the ASA and synchrotron losses provides a constraint on the acceleration timescale of the ASA and the magnetic field strength in the PWN.
arXiv commentAccepted for publication in ApJ, 11 pages, 5 figures
References in corpus (63)
- On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium
- Spectra and Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
- Reconnection in a Weakly Stochastic Field
- The Internal-Collision-Induced Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (ICMART) Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts
- The Evolution and Structure of Pulsar Wind Nebulae
- The BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Spectral Catalog. I. High Time Resolution Spectroscopy of Bright Bursts using High Energy Resolution Data
- Simulations of Incompressible MHD Turbulence
- Compressible Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: mode coupling, scaling relations, anisotropy, new regime and astrophysical implications
- Reconnection in a striped pulsar wind
- Compressible Turbulence in Galaxy Clusters: Physics and Stochastic Particle Re-acceleration
- Instability of toroidal magnetic field in jets and plerions
- Gamma-ray flares from the Crab Nebula
- Compressible Sub-Alfvenic MHD turbulence in Low-beta Plasmas
- Discovery of Powerful Gamma-Ray Flares from the Crab Nebula
- Scattering of Cosmic Rays by Magnetohydrodynamic Interstellar Turbulence
- Young core collapse supernova remnants and their supernovae
- Acceleration of Particles at the Termination Shock of a Relativistic Striped Wind
- Cosmic Ray Scattering and Streaming in Compressible Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
- Extending Big Power Law in the Sky with Turbulence Spectra from WHAM data
- Cosmic Ray Propagation: Nonlinear Diffusion Parallel and Perpendicular to Mean Magnetic Field
- Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of the Crab Nebula
- Scattering of energetic particles by anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with a Goldreich-Sridhar power spectrum
- Gamma-Ray Bursts: Multiwaveband Spectral Predictions for Blast Wave Models
- Velocity Field of Compressible MHD Turbulence: Wavelet Decomposition and Mode Scalings
- The Variable Jet of the Vela Pulsar
- The role of three-dimensional transport in driving enhanced electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection
- Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Reconnection and Particle Acceleration: Three-Dimensional Effects
- Stochastic reacceleration of relativistic electrons by turbulent reconnection: a mechanism for cluster-scale radio emission ?
- Particle Acceleration in Turbulence and Weakly Stochastic Reconnection
- Rayleigh-Taylor instability in Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of the Crab Nebula
- Statistics of Reconnection-Driven Turbulence
- Fast reconnection in relativistic plasmas: the magnetohydrodynamics tearing instability revisited
- Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths
- Turbulent dynamo in a conducting fluid and partially ionized gas
- Study of Four Young TeV Pulsar Wind Nebulae with a Spectral Evolution Model
- CHANDRA ACIS Spectroscopy of N157B -- A Young Composite Supernova Remnant in a Superbubble
- Optical Polarimetry of the Inner Crab Nebula and Pulsar
- X-Ray Observations of the supernova remnant G21.5-0.9
- Damping of MHD turbulence in partially ionized plasma: implications for cosmic ray propagation
- The Infrared Detection of the Pulsar Wind Nebula in the Galactic Supernova Remnant 3C 58
- Detection of an X-ray Pulsar Wind Nebula and Tail in SNR N157B
- Multi-D magnetohydrodynamic modelling of pulsar wind nebulae: recent progress and open questions
- On the MHD modeling of the Crab Nebula radio emission
- Modelling the Kinked Jet of the Crab Nebula
- Relativistic MHD simulations of collision-induced magnetic dissipation in Poynting-flux-dominated jets/outflows
- Three-Dimensional Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Current-Driven Instability. II. Relaxation of Pulsar Wind Nebula
- Properties of the First-order Fermi acceleration in fast magnetic reconnection driven by turbulence in collisional MHD flows
- Turbulent Reconnection in Relativistic Plasmas And Effects of Compressibility
- Resonance-broadened transit time damping of particles in MHD turbulence
- Crab flares due to turbulent dissipation of the pulsar striped wind
- Freely decaying turbulence in force-free electrodynamics
- A Radio Study of the Mouse, G359.23--0.82
- Particle Acceleration by Fast Modes in Solar Flares
- Adiabatic non-resonant acceleration in magnetic turbulence and hard spectra of gamma-ray bursts
- Resonance Broadening and Heating of Charged Particles in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
- Radio Polarization Observations of the Snail: A Crushed Pulsar Wind Nebula in G327.1-1.1 with a Highly Ordered Magnetic Field
- On the Radio Emitting Particles of the Crab Nebula: Stochastic Acceleration Model
- High resolution radio study of the Pulsar Wind Nebula within the Supernova Remnant G0.9+0.1
- Diffusive Synchrotron Radiation from Pulsar Wind Nebulae
- The Mouse Pulsar Wind Nebula
- Spontaneous decay of periodic magnetostatic equilibria
- On the synchrotron spectrum of GRB prompt emission
- Can Turbulence Dominate Depolarization of Optical Blazars?
Cited by in corpus (16)
- 3D Turbulent Reconnection: Theory, Tests and Astrophysical Implications
- Second order Fermi reacceleration mechanisms and large scale synchrotron radio emission in intra-cluster bridges
- Particle acceleration in relativistic turbulence: A theoretical appraisal
- Particle acceleration in strong MHD turbulence
- Hard Synchrotron Spectra from Magnetically Dominated Plasma Turbulence
- Non-resonant particle acceleration in strong turbulence: comparison to kinetic and MHD simulations
- Thermal radio absorption as a tracer of the interaction of SNRs with their environments
- Chandra Monitoring of the J1809-1917 Pulsar Wind Nebula and Its Field
- A Search for TeV Gamma-ray Emission from Pulsar Tails by VERITAS
- Spatial intermittency of particle distribution in relativistic plasma turbulence
- Leaking Outside the Box: Kinetic Turbulence with Cosmic-Ray Escape
- Resolving the bow shock and tail of the cannonball pulsar PSR J0002+6216
- "The Goose" Pulsar Wind Nebula of PSR J1016-5857: The Birth of a Plerion
- Acceleration of cosmic rays in presence of magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations at small scales
- Synchrotron spectra of GRB prompt emission and pulsar wind nebulae
- Diffusion of cosmic rays in MHD turbulence