The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar Winds
Binary systems that host a massive star and a non-accreting pulsar can be powerful non-thermal emitters. The relativistic pulsar wind and the non-relativistic stellar outflows interact along the orbit, producing ultrarelativistic particles that radiate from radio to gamma rays. To properly character...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Universe |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/7/8/277 |
| _version_ | 1797521925334892544 |
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| author | Maxim V. Barkov Valenti Bosch-Ramon |
| author_facet | Maxim V. Barkov Valenti Bosch-Ramon |
| author_sort | Maxim V. Barkov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Binary systems that host a massive star and a non-accreting pulsar can be powerful non-thermal emitters. The relativistic pulsar wind and the non-relativistic stellar outflows interact along the orbit, producing ultrarelativistic particles that radiate from radio to gamma rays. To properly characterize the physics of these sources, and better understand their emission and impact on the environment, careful modeling of the outflow interactions, spanning a broad range of spatial and temporal scales, is needed. Full three-dimensional approaches are very computationally expensive, but simpler approximate approaches, while still realistic at the semi-quantitative level, are available. We present here the results of calculations done with a quasi three-dimensional scheme to compute the evolution of the interacting flows in a region spanning in size up to a thousand times the size of the binary. In particular, we analyze for the first time the role of different eccentricities in the large scale evolution of the shocked flows. We find that the higher the eccentricity, the closer the flows behave like a one-side outflow, which becomes rather collimated for eccentricity values <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>≳</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>0.75. The simulations also unveil that the pulsar and the stellar winds become fully mixed within the grid for low eccentricity systems, presenting a more stochastic behavior at large scales than in the highly eccentric systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:19:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4d1b40470bda45a7a5328f3b42fcc503 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2218-1997 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:19:26Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Universe |
| spelling | doaj.art-4d1b40470bda45a7a5328f3b42fcc5032023-11-22T10:05:34ZengMDPI AGUniverse2218-19972021-07-017827710.3390/universe7080277The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar WindsMaxim V. Barkov0Valenti Bosch-Ramon1Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017 Moscow, RussiaDepartament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICC), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, E08028 Barcelona, SpainBinary systems that host a massive star and a non-accreting pulsar can be powerful non-thermal emitters. The relativistic pulsar wind and the non-relativistic stellar outflows interact along the orbit, producing ultrarelativistic particles that radiate from radio to gamma rays. To properly characterize the physics of these sources, and better understand their emission and impact on the environment, careful modeling of the outflow interactions, spanning a broad range of spatial and temporal scales, is needed. Full three-dimensional approaches are very computationally expensive, but simpler approximate approaches, while still realistic at the semi-quantitative level, are available. We present here the results of calculations done with a quasi three-dimensional scheme to compute the evolution of the interacting flows in a region spanning in size up to a thousand times the size of the binary. In particular, we analyze for the first time the role of different eccentricities in the large scale evolution of the shocked flows. We find that the higher the eccentricity, the closer the flows behave like a one-side outflow, which becomes rather collimated for eccentricity values <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>≳</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>0.75. The simulations also unveil that the pulsar and the stellar winds become fully mixed within the grid for low eccentricity systems, presenting a more stochastic behavior at large scales than in the highly eccentric systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/7/8/277hydrodynamicsstars: windsoutflowsgamma-rays: starsX-rays: binaries |
| spellingShingle | Maxim V. Barkov Valenti Bosch-Ramon The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar Winds Universe hydrodynamics stars: winds outflows gamma-rays: stars X-rays: binaries |
| title | The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar Winds |
| title_full | The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar Winds |
| title_fullStr | The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar Winds |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar Winds |
| title_short | The Major Role of Eccentricity in the Evolution of Colliding Pulsar-Stellar Winds |
| title_sort | major role of eccentricity in the evolution of colliding pulsar stellar winds |
| topic | hydrodynamics stars: winds outflows gamma-rays: stars X-rays: binaries |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/7/8/277 |
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