Pulsar bow-shock nebulae. III. Inclusion of a neutral component, and H_{a lpha} luminosity
arXiv:astro-ph/0207016 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20020968
Abstract
The interaction of the wind from a pulsar (or more generally from a star) with t he amb ient medium gives rise to the formation of a bow-shock nebula. We present a mode l of adiabatic bow-shock nebulae, including the presence of a neutral component in the interstellar medium. As demonstrated in a previous paper (Bucciantini & Bandiera 2001}, hereafter Paper I), the velocity and the luminosity of the pulsar, as well a s the characteristics of the interstellar medium (ISM), play an essential role in determinin g the properties of bow shock nebulae. In particular, the Balmer emission is strongly affect ed by the rates of hydrogen charge-exchange and collisional excitation. So far, only one-com ponent models have been proposed, treating the neutrals as a small perturbation. The distrib ution of neutral hydrogen in the nebula, derived by our model, is then used to determine how the h_{alpha} luminosity varies along the bow shock. We find that the luminosity trend is d ifferent for charge-exchange and collisional excitation, and that processes like diffusion o r ionization may reduce the emission in the head of the nebula.
8 pages, Latex, 9 Encapsulated PostScript figures, accepted for public ation in A&A
Cited by in corpus (14)
- The Evolution and Structure of Pulsar Wind Nebulae
- Relativistic MHD simulations of pulsar bow-shock nebulae
- Balmer-Dominated Shocks Revisited
- An optical bow shock around the nearby millisecond pulsar J2124-3358
- Mass-loading of bow shock pulsar wind nebulae
- An In Situ Study of Turbulence Near Stellar Bow Shocks
- Bow shocks around pulsars and neutron stars
- A Laminar Model for the Magnetic Field Structure in Bow-Shock Pulsar Wind Nebulae
- Pulsar Wind Nebulae Modeling
- Numerical simulations of mass loading in the tails of Bow Shock Pulsar Wind Nebulae
- Radio Observations of the Region around the Pulsar Wind Nebula HESS J1303-631 with ATCA
- 3D Relativistic MHD Simulations of Pulsar Bow Shock Nebulae
- New Studies of the Pulsar Wind Nebula in the Supernova Remnant CTB 80
- A MERLIN Observation of PSR B1951+32 and its associated Plerion