Portrait of a Dead Star as a Cosmic Disco Ball (Pulsar Wind Nebula)
Massive stars implode as Core-collapse supernovae. Now, what happens to the core? It can either end up as a neutron star or a black hole. Let's take the neutron star scenario here. The Star Died, But Left Its Angry, Spinning Ghost The core implodes, sending shock waves to the ambient medium. This forward shock compresses and heats the ambient gas, and propagates sweeping up the material. Now, as the deceleration of the shock drives back a reverse shock into the cold ejecta, heating the metal-rich gas to X-ray-emitting temperatures. But, what's there at the centre? A rapidly-spinning, highly magnetic neutron star. This neutron star, a pulsar, generates an energetic wind of particles and magnetic field. Thus, we have a nebula driven by the winds of a pulsar hosted inside a supernova remnant (SNR) - a pulsar wind nebula (PWN). Is a PWN an SNR? No, a pulsar wind nebula and a supernova remnant are not the same. Yes, a pulsar wind nebula is formed after a supernova explosion and the...