ausblenden:
Schlagwörter:
Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, astro-ph.HE
MPINP:
Theoretische Astrophysik - Abteilung Hofmann
Zusammenfassung:
Strong waves can mediate a shock transition between a pulsar wind and its
surroundings, playing the role of an extended precursor, in which the energy is
effectively transferred from fields to non-thermal particles. The damping of
such precursors results in an essentially unmagnetized shock near the equator.
In this context, we discuss the stability of strong waves and its implications
for the properties of shocks. Those with stable precursors can exist in the
winds of most of isolated pulsars, but the precursors may be unstable if the
external pressure in the nebula is high, as in Vela-like pulsars. Pulsar wind
shocks in eccentric binary systems, such as B1259-63, can acquire precursors
only at certain orbital phases, and this process should be accompanied by
enhanced synchro-Compton and inverse Compton emission from the precursor. The
same scenario may be at work in the binary HESS J0632+057.