The X-ray jet in the Crab Nebula: radical implications for pulsar theory?

Abstract

The recent Chandra image of the Crab nebula shows a striking, axisymmetric polar jet. It is shown that jets are formed in axisymmetric, magnetized pulsar winds and that the jet luminosity scales relative to the total as (γ_0σ_{eq})^{-4/3}, where σ_{eq} is the ratio of Poynting flux to particle kinetic energy output at the equator at the base of the flow and γ_0 the initial Lorentz factor of the flow. The results are applied to the image of the Crab nebula, and the limit is set for the Crab pulsar of σ_{eq} \leq 100. It is argued that conventional pulsar theory needs to be reexamined in light of these limits.

13 pages

References in corpus (1)

• Acceleration and collimation of relativistic plasmas ejected by fast rotators

Cited by in corpus (27)

• Magnetic acceleration of ultra-relativistic jets in gamma-ray burst sources
• Dissipation in Poynting-flux Dominated Flows: the Sigma-Problem of the Crab Pulsar Wind
• Blast Waves from Magnetar Flares and Fast Radio Bursts
• Acceleration of GRB outflows by Poynting flux dissipation
• Efficiency of Magnetic to Kinetic Energy Conversion in a Monopole Magnetosphere
• Asymptotic structure of Poynting dominated jets
• Axially symmetric relativistic MHD simulations of Pulsar Wind Nebulae in Supernova Remnants - On the origin of torus and jet-like features
• Magnetized Relativistic Jets and Long-Duration GRBs from Magnetar Spindown during Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Relativistic MHD Winds from Rotating Neutron Stars
• Simulated synchrotron emission from Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Relativistic Jets and Long-Duration Gamma-ray Bursts from the Birth of Magnetars
• The origin of peculiar jet-torus structure in the Crab nebula
• Transformation of the Poynting flux into the kinetic energy in relativistic jets
• The theory of pulsar winds and nebulae
• Magnetar Driven Bubbles and the Origin of Collimated Outflows in Gamma-ray Bursts
• On the origin of the torus and jet-like structures in the centre of Crab Nebula
• Ideal MHD solution to the $\sigma$ problem in Crab-like pulsar winds and general asymptotic analysis of magnetized outflows
• Highly magnetized region in pulsar wind nebulae and origin of the Crab gamma-ray flares
• Fast magnetosonic waves in pulsar winds
• Pulsars With Jets May Harbor Dynamically Important Accretion Disks
• Near-Infrared, Kilosecond Variability of the Wisps and Jet in the Crab Pulsar Wind Nebula
• On the diversity of the jet production efficiency in Swift/BAT AGNs
• The Vela Pulsar With an Active Fallback Disk
• Modeling Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• MHD models of Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Magnetars and Gamma Ray Bursts
• Probing the properties of the pulsar wind via studying the dispersive effects in the pulses from the pulsar companion in a double neutron-star binary system