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The Sigma Problem of the Crab Pulsar Wind

J. G. Kirk, +1 more
- Vol. 218, pp 171-174
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TLDR
In this article, the authors considered the conversion of the Crab pulsar wind from one dominated by Poynting flux close to the star to a particle-born energy at the termination shock.
Abstract
The conversion of the Crab pulsar wind from one dominated by Poynting flux close to the star to one dominated by particle-born energy at the termination shock is considered. The idea put forward by Coroniti (1990) and criticised by Lyubarsky & Kirk (2001) that reconnection in a striped wind is responsible, is generalised to include faster prescriptions for the a priori unknown dissipation rate. Strong acceleration of the wind is confirmed, and the higher dissipation rates imply complete conversion of Poynting flux into particle-born flux within the unshocked wind.

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Magnetic Reconnection in Plasmas

TL;DR: The concept of magnetic reconnection was first introduced in 1946 by Ronald G. Giovannelli as a suggested mechanism for particle acceleration in solar flares as mentioned in this paper, which is also a key process in explosive processes, converting magnetic energy into plasma kinetic and thermal energy.
Posted Content

Neutron Stars in Supernova Remnants

Franco Pacini
- 22 Nov 1999 - 
TL;DR: In this article, the authors summarize some facts and ideas concerning the presence of neutron stars in supernova remnants and show that shell-type supernova sources such as Cas A are compatible with neutron stars releasing a weak relativistic wind.

The termination shock in a striped pulsar wind

TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that most of the pulsar spin-down energy is transferred away as a striped pulsar wind and that this energy is released by annihilation of the alternating magnetic field at the termination shock.
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Large scale magnetic fields and their dissipation in GRB fireballs

TL;DR: In this article, the authors considered possible geometries of magnetic fields in GRB outflows and their evolution with distance from the source, and showed that magnetic field strengths are sufficient for efficient production of gamma-rays by synchrotron emission in the standard internal shock scenario, without the need for local generation of small scale fields.
References
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On a plasma sheath separating regions of oppositely directed magnetic field

TL;DR: In this article, an exact solution of the Vlasov equations was found which describes a layer of plasma confined between two regions of oppositely directed magnetic field, and the electrons and ions have Maxwellian distributions on the plane where the magnetic field vanishes.
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Millisecond pulsars with extremely strong magnetic fields as a cosmological source of γ-ray bursts

TL;DR: In this article, a new model for γ-ray bursts at cosmological distances was proposed, based on the formation of rapidly rotating neutron stars with surface magnetic fields of the order of 1015.
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Confinement of the Crab pulsar's wind by its supernova remnant

TL;DR: In this article, a steady state, spherically symmetric, magnetohydrodynamic model of the Crab nebula is constructed, where a highly relativistic positronic 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.
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Theory of pulsar magnetospheres

TL;DR: In this article, a wide range of fundamental physical problems directly related to how pulsars function are discussed, some of which are independent of the specific pulsar mechanism and others relate directly to the physics of the pulsar and already shed some light on the properties of matter at high density and in strong magnetic fields.
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