Electron acceleration at pulsar wind termination shocks

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron and positron acceleration mechanisms at pulsar wind termination shocks, revealing two distinct regimes of Fermi acceleration depending on particle gyro-radius relative to magnetic shear wavelength.

Contribution

It introduces a combined simulation approach to analyze shock structure and particle acceleration regimes in pulsar wind nebulae, highlighting the role of magnetic shear and reconnection.

Findings

Shock-precursor energizes and reflects particles for further acceleration.

Two acceleration regimes identified: Fermi-like for large gyro-radius, reconnection-driven for small gyro-radius.

Spectrum softness varies with the acceleration regime.

Abstract

We study the acceleration of electrons and positrons at an electromagnetically modified, ultra-relativistic shock in the context of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). We simulate the outflow produced by an obliquely rotating pulsar in proximity of its termination shock with a two-fluid code which uses a magnetic shear wave to mimic the properties of the wind. We integrate electron trajectories in the test-particle limit in the resulting background electromagnetic fields to analyse the injection mechanism. We find that the shock-precursor structure energizes and reflects a sizeable fraction of particles, which becomes available for further acceleration. We investigate the subsequent first-order Fermi process sustained by small-scale magnetic fluctuations with a Monte Carlo code. We find that the acceleration proceeds in two distinct regimes: when the gyro-radius $r_{\textrm{g}}$ exceeds the wavelength of the shear $\lambda$, the process is remarkably similar to first-order Fermi acceleration at relativistic, parallel shocks. This regime corresponds to a low density wind which allows the propagation of superluminal waves. When $r_{\textrm{g}}<\lambda$, which corresponds to the scenario of driven reconnection, the spectrum is softer.