THE INNER AND OUTER BEAST: ACCELERATION AND EMISSION IN PULSAR GAPS AND MORPHO-SPECTRAL MODELS OF THEIR WIND NEBULAE

NEUTRON STARS ARE A COMPACT ENDPOINT OF THE LIFE OF STARS. THEY LOSE THE BULK OF THEIR ROTATIONAL ENERGY IN THE FORM OF A PULSAR WIND, AN ULTRA-RELATIVISTIC OUTFLOW OF ELECTRONS AND POSITRONS, WHICH PROPERTIES ARE YET ELUSIVE. THIS REQUEST AIMS AT IDENTIFYING WHAT ARE THE CONTROL PARAMETERS BEHIND THE VARIED OBSERVATIONAL PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE PULSED SPECTRA OF NEUTRON STARS, AND TO USE THEM TO PREDICT THEIR X-RAY AND/OR GAMMA-RAY BEHAVIOR SO AS TO GUIDE OBSERVATIONS WITH SATELLITES. THIS PROPOSAL ALSO AIMS AT EXPLORING AND ULTIMATELY OBTAINING A VERSATILE COMBINATION OF HYDRODYNAMICAL, MAGNETO-HYDRODYNAMICAL, AND RADIATIVE SIMULATIONS AND TO APPLY THIS TOOL TO THE MODELLING OF PULSAR WIND NEBULAE. SUCH TOOL, IF VERSATILE ENOUGH TO HANDLE THE FORTHCOMING INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF DETECTED NEBULAE IN BOTH RADIO AND GAMMA-RAY FREQUENCIES, WILL AT ONCE PROVIDE A FRAMEWORK WHERE TO UNDERSTAND INDIVIDUAL OBSERVATIONS AND ALLOW FOR MEANINGFUL POPULATION ANALYSIS: IT WOULD HAVE AN ENORMOUS IMPACT IN EXTRACTING AND INTERFACING THE PHYSICS OF BOTH THE SQUARE KILOMETER AND THE CHERENKOV TELESCOPE ARRAYS, AT THE TWO ENDS OF THE ELECTROGMAGNETIC SPECTRUM. FOR THE LATTER, IN ADDITION, IT CAN ALSO PLAY A DECISIVE ROLE IN SOLVING FOR THE GAMMA-RAY CONFUSION (THE INABILITY TO SEPARATE THE SOURCES OF RADIATION) GENERATED BY THE DOZENS OF PULSAR WIND NEBULAE TO BE DETECTED IN THE CROWDED GALACTIC CENTER REGION, FOR WHICH WE HERE PROPOSE THE EXPLORATION OF A NEW TECHNIQUE. THIS PROPOSAL HAS A HIGH RISK-HIGH GAIN POTENTIAL: SUCH TOOLS WOULD ALSO HAVE AN IMPACT ON MANY OTHER ASTROPHYSICAL SITUATIONS, IN PARTICULAR, THOSE RELATED WITH PLASMA-MAGNETIC FIELD INTERACTION IN TRANSITIONAL PULSARS AND GAMMA-RAY BINARIES.