Multiwavelength Observations of Pulsar Wind Nebulae

TL;DR

This paper reviews multiwavelength observations of pulsar wind nebulae, highlighting how such data reveal their structure, evolution, and the physics of pulsar winds and their environments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of observational insights across the electromagnetic spectrum, illustrating how these data inform understanding of pulsar wind nebulae's dynamics and evolution.

Findings

Detection of jets and wind termination shocks

Observation of time-varying emission structures

Insights into the composition and evolution of nebulae

Abstract

The extended nebulae formed as pulsar winds expand into their surroundings provide information about the composition of the winds, the injection history from the host pulsar, and the material into which the nebulae are expanding. Observations from across the electromagnetic spectrum provide constraints on the evolution of the nebulae, the density and composition of the surrounding ejecta, the geometry of the central engines, and the long-term fate of the energetic particles produced in these systems. Such observations reveal the presence of jets and wind termination shocks, time-varying compact emission structures, shocked supernova ejecta, and newly formed dust. Here I provide a broad overview of the structure of pulsar wind nebulae, with specific examples from observations extending from the radio band to very-high-energy gamma-rays that demonstrate our ability to constrain the history and ultimate fate of the energy released in the spin-down of young pulsars.