Pulsar Wind Nebulae in Evolved Supernova Remnants

By J. Blondin, R. Chevalier, D. Frierson. 2001

264 citations recorded by the source corpus.

For pulsars similar to the one in the Crab Nebula, most of the energy input to the surrounding wind nebula occurs on a timescale ≲103 yr; during this time, the nebula expands into freely expanding supernova ejecta. On a timescale ~104 yr, the interaction of the supernova with the surrounding medium drives a reverse shock front toward the center of the remnant, where it crushes the pulsar wind nebula (PWN). We have carried out one- and two-dimensional, two-fluid simulations of the crushing and reexpansion phases of a PWN. We show that (1) these phases are subject to Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities that result in the mixing of thermal and nonthermal fluids, and (2) asymmetries in the surrounding interstellar medium give rise to asymmetries in the position of the PWN relative to the pulsar and explosion site. These effects are expected to be observable in the radio emission from evolved PWN because of the long lifetimes of radio-emitting electrons. The scenario can explain the chaotic and asymmetric appearance of the Vela X PWN relative to the Vela pulsar without recourse to a directed flow from the vicinity of the pulsar. The displacement of the radio nebulae in G327.1-1.1, MSH 15-56 (G326.3-1.8), G0.9+0.1, and W44 relative to the X-ray nebulae may be due to this mechanism. On timescales much greater than the nebular crushing time, the initial PWN may be mixed with thermal gas and become unobservable, so that even the radio emission is dominated by recently injected particles.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. J. Vink
2. G. Dubus
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6. M. Cerruti
7. G. Fontaine
8. N. Bucciantini

Citations in the corpus

• Magnetic Fields in Supernova Remnants and Pulsar-Wind Nebulae (2011, background): “As a result of this asymmetric collision, the pulsar can end up substantially offset from the center of its PWN, and the PWN’s radio morphology can take on a chaotic or filamentary appearance (Blondin et al. 2001; van der Swaluw et al. 2004) (see Fig.”
• The evolution and structure of pulsar wind nebulae (2006, background): “The crushing of the PWN produces Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, which can produce a chaotic, filamentary structure and mixing of thermal and non-thermal material within the PWN (Chevalier 1998, Blondin et al. 2001).”
• The H.E.S.S. Survey of the Inner Galaxy in Very High Energy Gamma Rays (2005, background): “For PWNs there are theoretical grounds to expect in some cases a displacement of the gamma-ray emission from the pulsar powering the nebula (Aharonian et al. 1997a; Blondin et al. 2001).”
• Galactic electrons and positrons at the Earth: new estimate of the primary and secondary fluxes (2010, background): “Thus, a more general picture of pulsar modeling, at least for cosmic-ray electrons and positrons, should involve a SNR as the main energy supply, and a pulsar and its PWN as a subsystem injecting additional high energy electrons and positrons (see e.g. Blondin et al. 2001).”
• Axially symmetric relativistic MHD simulations of Pulsar Wind Nebulae in Supernova Remnants. On the origin of torus and jet-like features (2004, methodology): “For similar settings see van der Swaluw et al. (2001), Blondin et al. (2001), Bucciantini et al. (2003, 2004).”
• The population of TeV pulsar wind nebulae in the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey (2017, background): “The second phase begins after a few thousand years, when the PWN has grown to a size of the order of ∼10 pc and encounters the reverse shock of the SNR, which may be moving spatially inwards (Blondin et al. 2001).”
• SUPERNOVA LIGHT CURVES POWERED BY YOUNG MAGNETARS (2009, background): “In multi-dimensional calculations of pulsar wind nebulae, Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities broaden the shell and mix the swept-up material (Jun 1998; Blondin et al. 2001).”