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Energy Transport in a Rotation-Modulated Pulsar Wind

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

A. Melatos
Affiliation:
Theoretical Astrophysics, Mail Code 130-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA 91125, USA
D. B. Melrose
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia

Abstract

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The structure and energetics of a rotation-modulated pulsar wind are examined. It is shown that the displacement current in the wind asymptotically dominates the conduction current, creating an outer radiation zone whose inner boundary lies well inside the wind termination shock. A self-consistent nonlinear-plasma-wave model of the radiation zone predicts that the ratio of Poynting flux to kinetic-energy flux at the termination shock is small (~ 10−3 for the Crab), in agreement with independent observational estimates.

Type
Part 6 Winds and the ISM
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1996

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