Characteristics of plerions powered by pulsars

Abstract

It is generally believed that energy flows from a pulsar initially as magnetic dipole radiation and then largely as a wind of relativistic particles and magnetic field which fill out an expanding spherical volume around the pulsar. We calculate here the nature and evolution of the non-thermal radiation from such a plerion, giving adequate attention to the betatron effect on the electrons induced by the non-adiabatic behaviour of the magnetic field. These calculations are of interest in the modelling of supernova remnants (SNR) like the Crab-nebula, in discussing pulsar-SNR associations and in predicting the observational features expected if a pulsar is embedded inside the remnant of SN1987A when the debris becomes transparent.