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Shocks, Outflows and Bubbles: New Views on Pulsars and their Winds

Bryan M. Gaensler
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Abstract

A typical young pulsar slows down at an imperceptible rate, its spin period increasing by less than 10 microseconds over the course of a year. However, the inertia of a pulsar is so extreme that to effect this tiny change in rotation rate, the star must dissipate about 10^46 ergs of kinetic energy. Observations of pulsars and their surroundings demonstrate that this ``spin-down energy'' is expelled into the pulsar's surroundings in spectacular fashion, in the form of a relativistic wind of charged particles and magnetic fields. In this review I highlight some recent observational results on pulsar winds at radio, X-ray and optical wavelengths, and explain what we can learn from these data about shock structure, particle acceleration and the interstellar medium.

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Bryan M. Gaensler. 2003-03-18. Shocks, Outflows and Bubbles: New Views on Pulsars and their Winds. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812704009_0026

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