Ultra-relativistic pulsar wind

Author
Abstract

We show that cold, ultra-relativistic hydromagnetic winds can have a kinetic energy flux much larger than the Poynting flux. Even slight deviation of streamlines from a perfect radial geometry can move the fast magnetosonic point to some finite radii comparable to that of the light cylinder. Once the flow becomes supermagnetosonic, divergence of the streamlines can accelerate it via the magnetic nozzle effect, thereby converting Poyting flux to kinetic energy. We discuss our results in the content of pulsar winds.

Year of Conference
1991
Volume
391
Start Page or Article ID
141-144
Date Published
1991-01
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Conference Location
Berlin, Heidelberg
ISBN Number
978-3-540-46448-8
DOI
10.1007/3-540-54789-4_65
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Publication Status
JILA PI
JILA Topics
Conference Proceedings