Confinement of the crab pulsar's wind by its supernova remnant

Journal Article · Wed Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 1984 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/162356· OSTI ID:6207304

Kennel, C F; Coroniti, F V

We construct a steady state, spherically symmetric, magnetohydrodynamic model of the Crab nebual. A highly relativistic, positronic pulsar wind is terminated by a strong MHD shock that decelerates the flow and increases its pressure to match boundary conditions imposed by the recently discovered supernova remnant that surrounds the nebula. If the magnetic luminosity of the pulsar wind upsteam of the shock is about 0.3% of its particle luminosity, the pressure and velocity boundary conditions imposed by the remnant place the shock where we infer it to be; near the outer boundary of an underluminous region observed to surround the pulsar. It is necessary to include the weak magnetization of the wind to satisfy the boundary conditions and to calculate the nebular synchrotron radiation self-consistently.

• Research Organization: Department of Physics, Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, and Center for Plasma Physics and Fusion Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
• OSTI ID: 6207304
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 283:2; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640103* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Quasi-Stellar
Radio
& X-Ray Sources-- (-1987)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATMOSPHERES
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
CRAB NEBULA
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INTERACTIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FLUX
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
NEBULAE
PAIR PRODUCTION
PLASMA
PLASMA WAVES
PULSARS
RADIATIONS
SHOCK WAVES
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
STELLAR MAGNETOSPHERES
STELLAR WINDS
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION