The Crab Nebula: interpretation of CHANDRA observations

Abstract

We interpret the observed X-ray morphology of the central part of the Crab Nebula (torus + jets) in terms of the standard theory by Kennel and Coroniti (1984). The only new element is the inclusion of anisotropy in the energy flux from the pulsar in the theory. In the standard theory of relativistic winds, the Lorentz factor of the particles in front of the shock that terminates the pulsar relativistic wind depends on the polar angle as $\gamma ={\gamma }_0+{\gamma }_m{\sin }^2\theta$, where ${\gamma }_0\sim 200$ and ${\gamma }_m\sim 4.5\times 10^6$. The plasma flow in the wind is isotropic. After the passage of the pulsar wind through the shock, the flow becomes subsonic with a roughly constant (over the plerion volume) pressure $P=\frac{1}{3}n\epsilon$, where $n$ is the plasma particle density and $\epsilon$ is the mean particle energy. Since $\epsilon \sim \gamma m{c}^2$, a low-density region filled with the most energetic electrons is formed near the equator. A bright torus of synchrotron radiation develops here. Jet-like regions are formed along the pulsar rotation axis, where the particle density is almost four orders of magnitude higher than that in the equatorial plane, because the particle energy there is four orders of magnitude lower. The energy of these particles is too low to produce detectable synchrotron radiation. However, these quasi-jets become comparable in brightness to the torus if additional particle acceleration takes place in the plerion. We also present the results of our study of the hydrodynamic interaction between an anisotropic wind and the interstellar medium. We compare the calculated and observed distributions of the volume intensity of X-ray radiation.

38 pages, 5 figures. To be published in Astronomy Letters, 2002, N 6, p.1

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• Variability of the Vela Pulsar-wind Nebula Observed with Chandra
• Acceleration and collimation of relativistic plasmas ejected by fast rotators
• Chandra observations of the pulsar wind nebula in SNR G0.9+0.1
• Magnetocentrifugal acceleration of plasma in a nonaxisymmetric magnetosphere

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