Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Feb 1991
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991apj...368..463m&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 368, Feb. 20, 1991, p. 463-467.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
28
Crab Nebula, Polarimetry, Pulsars, Stellar Winds, Charge Coupled Devices, Image Processing, Polarized Light
Scientific paper
Stokes parameters have been extracted from CCD images of the Crab Nebula in polarized light and recombined to give images of the nebula in totally polarized light and totally unpolarized light. Images in totally polarized light show dominant emission in an hour-glass structure. Theoretical expectations on general grounds predict a predominantly azimuthal magnetic field about the pulsar spin axis. Synchrotron radiation from energetic electrons with a range of pitch angles of about 90 deg, when viewed off-axis, naturally produces an hour-glass radiation pattern. Much of the remaining structure: 'scalloping' of the outer reaches of the synchrotron nebula about the edges and depolarization across the face of the nebula seems plausibly interpreted in terms of interaction with the filamentary structure. In effect, the filaments appear to form a conducting 'cage' from which the pulsar wind is attempting to escape with the wind structure thereby 'pooching' out between dense filaments.
Dufour Reginald James
Hester Jeff J.
Michel Curtis F.
Scowen Paul A.
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