A Self-Regulated Stochastic Acceleration Model of Pulsar Wind Nebulae

Abstract

Abstract Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are clouds of magnetized relativistic electron/positron plasma supplied from the central pulsar. However, the number of radio-emitting particles inside a PWN is larger than the expectation from the study of pulsar magnetospheres and their origin is still unclear. A stochastic acceleration of externally injected particles by a turbulence inside the PWN is proposed by our previous studies. In this paper, the previous stochastic acceleration model of the PWN broadband spectra is improved by taking into account the time evolution of the turbulent energy and then the total energy balance inside a PWN is maintained. The turbulent energy supplied from the central pulsar is wasted by the backreaction from the stochastic particle acceleration and the adiabatic cooling according to the PWN expansion. The model is applied to the Crab Nebula and reproduces the current broadband emission spectrum, especially the flat radio spectrum, although the time evolution of the turbulent energy (diffusion coefficient) is a bit complicated compared with our previous studies, where we assumed an exponential behavior of the diffusion coefficient.