Pulsar wind nebulae with bow shocks: non-thermal radiation and cosmic ray leptons

Understand

Pulsars with high spin-down power produce relativistic winds radiating a fraction of the power in the range from radio to gamma-rays in the pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe).

• The rest of the power is dissipated in the interactions of the PWNe with the interstellar medium (ISM).
• Some of the PWNe are moving relative to the ISM with supersonic speeds producing bow shocks.
• In this case, the ultrarelativistic particles accelerated at the termination surface of the pulsar wind may be reaccelerated in the converging flow system formed by the outflow from the wind termination shock and the inflow from the bow shock.