Modelling of particle acceleration in the pulsar wind nebulae with bow shocks

Abstract

Abstract The observations of the pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) indicate the presence of efficient acceleration of positrons and electrons in these sources. The Fermi acceleration in the colliding shock flows can explain the observed hard synchrotron emission spectra of PWNe with bow shocks (BSPWNe). This may result in their maximal luminosities in the far ultraviolet range (FUV; 1250 — 2000 Å, ∼ 6 — 10 eV) due to the synchrotron emission of pairs rather than due to the thermal emission of the shocked interstellar matter. Fine spectroscopic observations of sufficiently bright sources with Hubble Space Telescope could be applied to distinguish between these two scenarios. In this paper we simulate BSPWNe flows structure with the relativistic magnetohydrodynamic code PLUTO, consider particle transport and their synchrotron emission for a number of BSPWNe. We calculate the synchrotron FUV luminosities of these BSPWNe and discuss the prospective of their observation in FUV. We also consider possible contribution of PSR J1741-2054 to the positron excess detected by AMS-02 and PAMELA.