On the internal structure of the current sheet in the pulsar wind
| Autor: | L. I. Arzamasskiy, V. V. Prokofev, V. S. Beskin |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) 010308 nuclear & particles physics Time evolution Astronomy FOS: Physical sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics 01 natural sciences Magnetic field Computational physics Particle acceleration Current sheet Pulsar Space and Planetary Science 0103 physical sciences Physics::Space Physics Heliospheric current sheet Magnetohydrodynamics Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Reference frame |
| DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.1711.00133 |
| Popis: | We investigate the internal structure of the current sheet in the pulsar wind within force-free and two-fluid MHD approximations. Within the force-free approximation we obtain general asymptotic solution of the Grad-Shafranov equation for quasi-spherical pulsar wind up to the second order in small parameter $\varepsilon = (\Omega r/c)^{-1}$. The solution allows an arbitrary latitudinal structure of the radial magnetic field, including that obtained in the numerical simulations of oblique rotators. It is also shown that the shape of the current sheet does not depend on the latitudinal structure. For the internal region of the current sheet outside the fast magnetosonic surface where the force-free approximation is not valid we use two-fluid MHD approximation. Carrying out calculations in the comoving reference frame we succeed in determining intrinsic electric and magnetic fields of a sheet. It allows us to analyze time-dependent effects which were not investigated up to now. In particular, we estimate the efficiency of the particle acceleration inside the sheet. Finally, after investigating the motion of individual particles in the time-dependent current sheet, we find self-consistently the width of the sheet and its time evolution. Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted by MNRAS |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|