Toward understanding the physical underpinnings of spatial and spectral morphologies of pulsar wind nebulae

TL;DR

This paper investigates the physical mechanisms behind the shapes and spectra of pulsar wind nebulae by analyzing X-ray observations, linking them to pulsar magnetosphere properties and particle energy limits.

Contribution

It provides spatially-resolved spectral maps of PWNe, connects nebula morphologies to magnetospheric emission models, and discusses particle energy constraints from X-ray and gamma-ray data.

Findings

Measured spectral slopes downstream of the termination shock.

Linked PWN morphologies to magnetospheric emission predictions.

Established limits on maximum particle energies in PWNe.

Abstract

We discuss the observational properties of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) linking them to the injected (at the termination shock) electron spectral energy distribution and parameters of pulsar magnetospheres. In particular, we (1) present spatially-resolved Chandra ACIS spectral maps of twelve PWNe and measure the slopes of the uncooled PWN spectra just downstream of the termination shock obtained from these maps, (2) consider the connections between PWN morphologies and predictions of the magnetospheric emission models and (3) discuss the limits on the maximum energies of particles in PWNe from X-ray and gamma-ray observations.