The Crab Nebula was formed after the collapse of a massive star about a thousand years ago, leaving behind a pulsar that inflates a bubble of ultra-relativistic electron-positron pairs permeated with magnetic field. The observation of brief but bright flares of energetic gamma rays suggests that pairs are accelerated to PeV energies within a few days; such rapid acceleration cannot be driven by shocks. Here, it is argued that the flares may be the smoking gun of magnetic dissipation in the Nebula. Using 2D and 3D particle-in-cell simulations, it is shown that the observations are consistent with relativistic magnetic reconnection, where pairs are subject to strong radiative cooling. The Crab flares may highlight the importance of relativistic magnetic reconnection in astrophysical sources.
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May 2014
Research Article|
April 24 2014
Gamma-ray flares in the Crab Nebula: A case of relativistic reconnection?a)
B. Cerutti;
B. Cerutti
1Department of Astrophysical Sciences,
Princeton University
, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
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G. R. Werner;
G. R. Werner
d)
2Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department,
University of Colorado
, UCB 390, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA
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D. A. Uzdensky;
D. A. Uzdensky
e)
2Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department,
University of Colorado
, UCB 390, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA
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M. C. Begelman
M. C. Begelman
f)
3
JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology
, UCB 440, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA
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b)
Invited speaker.
c)
bcerutti@astro.princeton.edu. Lyman Spitzer, Jr., Fellow.
f)
mitch@jila.colorado.edu. Also at Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, UCB 391, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0391, USA.
a)
Paper DI3 4, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 58, 101 (2013).
Phys. Plasmas 21, 056501 (2014)
Article history
Received:
November 22 2013
Accepted:
January 13 2014
Citation
B. Cerutti, G. R. Werner, D. A. Uzdensky, M. C. Begelman; Gamma-ray flares in the Crab Nebula: A case of relativistic reconnection?. Phys. Plasmas 1 May 2014; 21 (5): 056501. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4872024
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