Anisotropic Diffusion in Pulsar Halos: Interpreting the asymmetric morphology of Geminga and Monogem halos measured by HAWC

TL;DR

This study models the asymmetric shapes of pulsar halos around Geminga and Monogem using anisotropic diffusion, revealing insights into interstellar magnetic field properties and turbulence.

Contribution

It introduces a framework to interpret pulsar halo morphologies through anisotropic diffusion, constraining magnetic field orientations and turbulence characteristics.

Findings

Different magnetic field orientations for Geminga and Monogem halos.

Estimated magnetic coherence length of about 100 parsecs.

Alfvénic Mach numbers around 0.2 indicating turbulence levels.

Abstract

Pulsar halos are produced by electrons and positrons diffusing in the interstellar medium around their parent pulsar wind nebulae. Recent observations by HAWC and LHAASO have revealed asymmetric morphologies in the halos surrounding Geminga and Monogem. The anisotropic diffusion model provides a natural explanation for such asymmetries, where the morphology is determined by the viewing angle of the mean magnetic field, the Alfv\'enic Mach number ($M_{\rm A}$), and the pulsar distance. In this work, we model the measured morphologies based on this framework and constrain the properties of interstellar magnetic turbulence. We find that the mean magnetic field orientations within the two halos are different, implying that they reside in different magnetic coherence regions, whereas the Alfv\'enic Mach numbers are relatively close ($M_{\rm A}\sim 0.2$). The results suggest a local magnetic field coherence length of approximately 100pc. Our study demonstrates that the morphology of pulsar halos serves as a powerful diagnostic tool for the properties of interstellar magnetic fields, highlighting the need for more accurate morphological measurements and sophisticated diffusion modeling in future studies.