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The Theory of Pulsar Winds and Nebulae

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Neutron Stars and Pulsars

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 357))

The theory of pulsar winds and the nebulae they energize is currently celebrating its golden jubilee. Ten years before the discovery of pulsars it was already apparent that the magnetic field and relativistic particles that produce the radiation of the Crab Nebula must have their origin in a central stellar object [104]. Today, about 50 similarly powered objects are known, and some of them, like the Crab, are detected and even resolved at all accessible photon frequencies, from the radio to TeV gamma-rays. The rotation of the central neutron star [98] is now universally accepted as the energy source fuelling these objects, but the details of the coupling mechanism are still unclear. In this article we review current theoretical ideas on this subject and their relationship to observations. We concentrate on the magneto-hydrodynamic description of the relativistic outflow driven by the pulsar and on the bubble it inflates in the surrounding medium.

The discussion is organised as follows: in Sect. 16.2 we consider the region between the surface of the neutron star and the light cylinder a surface of cylindrical radius rL = cP /(2π), where P is the pulsar period. The speed of an object that co-rotates with the star becomes luminal on this surface, and the wavelength of the radiation that would be emitted by the pulsar in vacuum is 2πrL. In the terminology of radiating systems, the region within the light cylinder is, therefore, the “near zone”, where the fields can be approximated as being in rigid co-rotation. Conventionally, this region is called the pulsar magnetosphere. It is thought to be the site of copious pair creation, and, in most theories, is the region in which the pulsed radiation itself is emitted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 10 39 80, Heidelberg, 69029, Germany

    John G. Kirk & Jerome Petri

  2. Department of Physics, Ben Gurion University, 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel

    Yuri Lyubarsky

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  1. John G. Kirk
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  2. Yuri Lyubarsky
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  3. Jerome Petri
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Correspondence to John G. Kirk , Yuri Lyubarsky or Jerome Petri .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. MaxPlanckInstitut fur Extraterrestische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, Garching, 85741, Germany

    Werner Becker

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Kirk, J.G., Lyubarsky, Y., Petri, J. (2009). The Theory of Pulsar Winds and Nebulae. In: Becker, W. (eds) Neutron Stars and Pulsars. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 357. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76965-1_16

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