Diffusion in Pulsar Wind Nebulae: An Investigation using Magnetohydrodynamic and Particle Transport Models

TL;DR

This study combines MHD simulations and particle transport models to analyze high-energy particle behavior in pulsar wind nebulae, revealing the importance of diffusion and advection in shaping X-ray emissions.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive modeling approach that integrates MHD and particle transport simulations, improving the understanding of particle dynamics in pulsar wind nebulae.

Findings

Diffusive transport is efficient due to turbulence downstream of the termination shock.

The diffusion coefficient is approximately 2×10^{27} cm^2/s, energy-independent up to high Lorentz factors.

The combined models better fit observational data than traditional semi-analytic models.

Abstract

We study the transport of high-energy particles in pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) using three-dimensional MHD (see Porth et al. (2014) for details) and test-particle simulations, as well as a Fokker-Planck particle transport model. The latter includes radiative and adiabatic losses, diffusion, and advection on the background flow of the simulated MHD nebula. By combining the models, the spatial evolution of flux and photon index of the X-ray synchrotron emission is modelled for the three nebulae G21.5-0.9, the inner regions of Vela, and 3C 58, thereby allowing us to derive governing parameters: the magnetic field strength, average flow velocity and spatial diffusion coefficient. For comparison, the nebulae are also modelled with the semi-analytic Kennel & Coroniti (1984) model but the Porth et al. (2014) model generally yields better fits to the observational data. We find that high velocity fluctuations in the turbulent nebula (downstream of the termination shock) give rise to efficient diffusive transport of particles, with average P\'eclet number close to unity, indicating that both advection and diffusion play an important role in particle transport. We find that the diffusive transport coefficient of the order of $\sim2\times 10^{27} (L_{\rm s}/0.42\rm Ly) cm^{2}s^{-1}$ ($L_{\rm s}$ is the size of the termination shock) is independent of energy up to extreme particle Lorentz factors of $\gamma_{p}\sim10^{10}$.