Bow Shocks around Pulsars and Neutron Stars
نویسنده
چکیده
Pulsar wind nebulae are now well established as important probes both of neutron stars’ relativistic winds and of the surrounding interstellar medium. Amongst this diverse group of objects, pulsar bow shocks have long been regarded as an oddity, only seen around a handful of rapidly moving neutron stars. However, recent efforts at optical, radio and X-ray wavelengths have identified many new pulsar bow shocks, and these results have consequently motivated renewed theoretical efforts to model these systems. Here I review the new results and ideas which have emerged on these spectacular systems, and explain how bow shocks and “Crab-like” nebulae now form a consistent picture within our understanding of pulsar winds.
منابع مشابه
Bow Shocks from Neutron Stars: Scaling Laws and Hst Observations of the Guitar Nebula
The interaction of high-velocity neutron stars with the interstellar medium produces bow shock nebulae, where the relativistic neutron star wind is confined by ram pressure. We present multi-wavelength observations of the Guitar Nebula, including narrow-band Hα imaging with HST/WFPC2, which resolves the head of the bow shock. The HST observations are used to fit for the inclination of the pulsa...
متن کاملForty Years of X-Ray Binaries
In 2012 it was forty years ago that the discovery of the first X-ray binary Centaurus X-3 became known. That same year it was discovered that apart from the High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) there are also Low-Mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs), and that Cygnus X-1 is most probably a black hole. By 1975 also the new class of Be/X-ray binaries was discovered. After this it took 28 years before ESAs INTE...
متن کاملShocks and Wind Bubbles Around Energetic Pulsars
The Crab Nebula demonstrates that neutron stars can interact with their environments in spectacular fashion, their relativistic winds generating nebulae observable across the electromagnetic spectrum. At many previous conferences, astronomers have discussed, debated and puzzled over the complicated structures seen in the Crab, but have been limited to treating most other pulsar wind nebulae (PW...
متن کاملOptical Studies of Isolated Neutron Stars and Their Environments
The results of optical studies of Isolated Neutron Stars (INSs), their Pulsar-Wind Nebulae (PWNe) and Pulsar Bow Shocks are reviewed and discussed.
متن کاملNature vs. Nurture: The Origin of Soft Gamma–ray Repeaters and Anomalous X–ray Pulsars
Soft gamma–ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous x–ray pulsars (AXPs) are young and radio-quiet x-ray pulsars which have been rapidly spun-down to slow spin periods clustered in the range 5− 12 s. Most of these unusual pulsars also appear to be associated with supernova shell remnants (SNRs) with typical ages < 30 kyr. By examining the sizes of these remnants versus their ages, we demonstrate that...
متن کامل