Magnetic reconnection at the termination shock in a striped pulsar wind
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
- Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105 (Israel)
Most of the rotational luminosity of a pulsar is carried away by a relativistic magnetized wind in which the matter energy flux is negligible compared to the Poynting flux. However, observations indicate that most of the Poynting flux is eventually converted into ultra-relativistic particles. The mechanism responsible for this transformation remains poorly understood. Near the equatorial plane of an obliquely rotating pulsar magnetosphere, the magnetic field reverses polarity with the pulsar period, forming a wind with oppositely directed field lines and called a striped wind.We study the conditions required for magnetic energy release at the termination shock of the striped pulsar wind. Magnetic reconnection is considered via analytical methods and 1D relativistic PIC simulations. An analytical condition on the upstream parameters for partial and full magnetic reconnection is derived from the conservation laws of energy, momentum and particle number density across the relativistic shock. Furthermore, by using a 1D relativistic PIC code, we study in detail the reconnection process at the termination shock for different upstream Lorentz factors and magnetizations, and find good agreement with our analytical criterion. Thus, alternating magnetic fields annihilate easily at relativistic highly magnetized shocks. We apply our criterion for dissipation to deduce bounds on the pair multiplicity, {kappa}, in the pulsar wind.
- OSTI ID:
- 21136715
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 983; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETIZATION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MULTIPLICITY
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PULSARS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SHOCK WAVES