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Title:
Reconstructing the Guitar: Blowing Bubbles with a Pulsar Bow Shock Backflow
Authors:
van Kerkwijk, Marten H.; Ingle, Ashleigh
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada; ), AB(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada; )
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 683, Issue 2, pp. L159-L162. (ApJL Homepage)
Publication Date:
08/2008
Origin:
UCP
ApJ Keywords:
Instabilities, ISM: Bubbles, ISM: individual (Guitar Nebula), ISM: Jets and Outflows, Stars: Pulsars: Individual: Alphanumeric: PSR B2224+65
DOI:
10.1086/591792
Bibliographic Code:
2008ApJ...683L.159V

Abstract

The Guitar Nebula is an Hα nebula produced by the interaction of the relativistic wind of a very fast pulsar, PSR B2224+65, with the interstellar medium. It consists of a ram-pressure confined bow shock near its head and a series of semicircular bubbles further behind, the two largest of which form the body of the Guitar. We present a scenario in which this peculiar morphology is due to instabilities in the backflow from the pulsar bow shock. From simulations, these backflows appear similar to jets and their kinetic energy is a large fraction of the total energy in the pulsar's relativistic wind. We suggest that, like jets, these flows become unstable some distance downstream, leading to rapid dissipation of the kinetic energy into heat, and the formation of an expanding bubble. We show that in this scenario the sizes, velocities, and surface brightnesses of the bubbles depend mostly on observables, and that they match roughly what is seen for the Guitar. Similar instabilities may account for features seen in other bow shocks.
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