Turbulent Model of Crab Nebula Radiation
Abstract
We construct a turbulent model of the Crab Nebula's nonthermal emission. The present model resolves a number of long-standing problems of the Kennel–Coroniti model: (i) the sigma problem, (ii) the hard spectrum of radio electrons, (iii) the high peak energy of gamma-ray flares, (iv) and the spatial evolution of the infrared (IR) emission. The Nebula contains two populations of injected particles: Component-I, accelerated at the wind termination shock via the Fermi-I mechanism; and Component-II, accelerated in reconnecting turbulence in highly magnetized (σ >> 1) plasma in the central part of the Crab Nebula. The reconnecting turbulence in Component-II extends from radio to gamma-rays: it accelerates radio electrons with a hard spectrum, destroys the large-scale magnetic flux (and thus resolves the sigma problem), and occasionally produces gamma-ray flares (from the largest-scale reconnection events). The model reproduces the broadband spectrum of the Crab Nebula, from low-frequency synchrotron emission in radio to inverse-Compton emission at TeV energies, as well as the spatially resolved evolution of the spectral indices in the IR and optical bands.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3]
- Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
- Space Telescope Science Inst., Baltimore, MD (United States)
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Astronomy
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1803039
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0016542
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 896; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; rotation powered pulsars; stellar wind bubbles; interstellar synchrotron emission
Citation Formats
Luo, Yonggang, Lyutikov, Maxim, Temim, Tea, and Comisso, Luca. Turbulent Model of Crab Nebula Radiation. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab93c0.
Luo, Yonggang, Lyutikov, Maxim, Temim, Tea, & Comisso, Luca. Turbulent Model of Crab Nebula Radiation. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab93c0
Luo, Yonggang, Lyutikov, Maxim, Temim, Tea, and Comisso, Luca. Tue .
"Turbulent Model of Crab Nebula Radiation". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab93c0. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1803039.
@article{osti_1803039,
title = {Turbulent Model of Crab Nebula Radiation},
author = {Luo, Yonggang and Lyutikov, Maxim and Temim, Tea and Comisso, Luca},
abstractNote = {We construct a turbulent model of the Crab Nebula's nonthermal emission. The present model resolves a number of long-standing problems of the Kennel–Coroniti model: (i) the sigma problem, (ii) the hard spectrum of radio electrons, (iii) the high peak energy of gamma-ray flares, (iv) and the spatial evolution of the infrared (IR) emission. The Nebula contains two populations of injected particles: Component-I, accelerated at the wind termination shock via the Fermi-I mechanism; and Component-II, accelerated in reconnecting turbulence in highly magnetized (σ >> 1) plasma in the central part of the Crab Nebula. The reconnecting turbulence in Component-II extends from radio to gamma-rays: it accelerates radio electrons with a hard spectrum, destroys the large-scale magnetic flux (and thus resolves the sigma problem), and occasionally produces gamma-ray flares (from the largest-scale reconnection events). The model reproduces the broadband spectrum of the Crab Nebula, from low-frequency synchrotron emission in radio to inverse-Compton emission at TeV energies, as well as the spatially resolved evolution of the spectral indices in the IR and optical bands.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab93c0},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
number = 2,
volume = 896,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 23 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Tue Jun 23 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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