11
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Particle acceleration in explosive relativistic reconnection events and Crab Nebula gamma-ray flares

      , , ,
      Journal of Plasma Physics
      Cambridge University Press (CUP)

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisher
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          We develop a model of gamma-ray flares of the Crab Nebula resulting from the magnetic reconnection events in a highly magnetised relativistic plasma. We first discuss physical parameters of the Crab Nebula and review the theory of pulsar winds and termination shocks. We also review the principle points of particle acceleration in explosive reconnection events [Lyutikov et al., J. Plasma Phys., vol. 83(6), p. 635830601 (2017 a); J. Plasma Phys., vol. 83(6), p. 635830602 (2017 b)]. It is required that particles producing flares are accelerated in highly magnetised regions of the nebula. Flares originate from the poleward regions at the base of the Crab’s polar outflow, where both the magnetisation and the magnetic field strength are sufficiently high. The post-termination shock flow develops macroscopic (not related to the plasma properties on the skin-depth scale) kink-type instabilities. The resulting large-scale magnetic stresses drive explosive reconnection events on the light-crossing time of the reconnection region. Flares are produced at the initial stage of the current sheet development, during the X-point collapse. The model has all the ingredients needed for Crab flares: natural formation of highly magnetised regions, explosive dynamics on the light travel time, development of high electric fields on macroscopic scales and acceleration of particles to energies well exceeding the average magnetic energy per particle.

          Related collections

          Most cited references70

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: not found
          • Article: not found

          Millisecond pulsars with extremely strong magnetic fields as a cosmological source of γ-ray bursts

          V. Uso (1992)
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            The Origin of the Magnetic Field and Relativistic Particles in the Crab Nebula

              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Magnetohydrodynamic model of Crab nebula radiation

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal of Plasma Physics
                J. Plasma Phys.
                Cambridge University Press (CUP)
                0022-3778
                1469-7807
                April 2018
                April 19 2018
                April 2018
                : 84
                : 2
                Article
                10.1017/S0022377818000168
                aec060ae-0929-4295-bb67-dcacc0372309
                © 2018

                https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms

                History

                Comments

                Comment on this article