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Theory of Pulsar Winds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

A. Melatos*
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010, Australia

Abstract

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Recent progress in the theory of pulsar wind electrodynamics is reviewed, with emphasis on the following open questions, (i) Is the bipolar, jet-torus geometry imprinted by collimation or injection? (ii) what is the magnetic field geometry as a function of latitude, and is it stable? (iii) How rapidly does the postshock flow fluctuate, e.g. in the near infrared? (iv) The σ paradox: is Poynting flux converted gradually to kinetic energy flux as the wind expands, as in a linear accelerator, or is the conversion lossy, due to reconnection or parametric instabilities in a wave-like outflow?

Type
Part 4: Pulsar Wind Nebulae and Their Environments
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

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