Analysis

of Time-Dependent Electron Acceleration

in the Crab Nebula
Claire E. Hinrichs , Elizabeth Hays
1 2
1University of Maryland College Park: Physics & Astronomy (claire.e.hinrichs@gmail.com)

2NASA Goddard Space Flight Center – Code: 661

Introduction Key Questions Fermi Gamma-Ray

§ In 1054 A.D., a supernova § Where do these flares originate in the Crab? Space Telescope
.
was observed which has now § The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space
§ What is the mechanism that allows the
evolved into a pulsar wind Telescope was launched in
flares to exceed energies possible with
nebula known as the Crab 2008
synchrotron processes?
§ Strong magnetic fields and § Covers the energy range
§ What does the sub flare structure tell us
pulsar wind (charged from about 20 MeV to over
about flare dynamics and properties of the
relativistic particles) produce 300 GeV
progenitor ”blob”?
synchrotron radiation seen at
all wavelengths (Figure 1) § Does the Kroon et al. 2017 theory fit the
timescales seen and can it explain sub flare
§ The Crab flares in high- Figure 3: Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) for five recent Crab flare
behavior? peaks; Blue represents average nebula flux (Blandford et al. 2017)
energy gamma-rays,
exceeding energies possible
with synchrotron radiation, Power Density Spectrum Analysis: April 2011 Flare
without longer wavelength § We first utilized the autocorrelation function with
counterparts (Figure 3) the Edelson and Krolik algorithm to handle the Figure 8: Artists rendition of the Fermi
Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (NASA)
unevenly spaced data taken by Fermi LAT
§ We then computed the Fourier Transform of the
autocorrelation function to produce the PDS
Conclusions and Future
Work
§ Step size was determined by computing the
§ The sub-day activity does not
smallest time bin in the data set
agree with the proposed
Figure 5: Fourier Power Density Spectrum for the April 2011 Flare; theory; more flares must be
Red shaded region indicates the approximate noise floor
Figure 1: The Crab composite image-
analyzed to make a claim
Blue (X-ray), Green (Optical), Red (Radio) Figure 4: April 2011 Crab flare light curve; equal exposure
(Hester et al. 2008) bins with no earth occultation; mean duration per bin is nine
§ Sub-day activity could be the
minutes signature (size, density) of the
§ According to the proposed theory, this flare progenitor “blob”, meaning
Theory would have been produced by two “blobs” each flare will be unique
§ Kroon et al. 2017 proposes a
mechanism in which a § As can be observed, there are peaks in the § Future work includes making
magnetically confined plasma sub-day frequencies of the PDS PDS for more flares and to
“blob” encounters the pulsar- utilize the same step size for all
§ This sub-day frequency activity does not for a better comparison
wind termination shock and
match the multiple-day timescales the theory
can produce the high-energy
suggests
flares observed through
shock-driven magnetic
reconnection Power Density Spectrum Analysis: March 2013 Flare
§ March 2013 Flare PDS was computed using the
same algorithm as the April 2011 Flare PDS
§ Longer frequencies dominate more in the 2013
Flare, which may be a result of the larger time
Figure 9: Hubble Multi-wavelength
bins and observation time composite image (NASA)
Figure 6: March 2013 Crab Flare light curve; orbital binlng

References
§ Kroon, J.J., Becker, P.A., & Finke, J.D.
2018, Astrophysical Journal 853, 16
§ Hester, J.J. 2008, Annual Review of
Figure 7: Fourier Power Density Spectrum for the March 2013 Astronomy and Astrophysics, 46, 127
Flare; Red shaded region indicates the approximate noise floor § Scargle, J.D. 1989, Astrophyscial
§ According to the proposed theory, this flare Journal 343, 874
Figure 2: Red lines denote magnetic fields;
the “blob” is shown at three different would have been produced by one ”blob” § Blandford, R. 2017, Handbook of
times: before, during, and after maximum hitting the termination shock instead of two in Supernovae, ISBN 978-3-319-21845-
contact with the termination shock (Kroon 8. Springer International Publishing
et al. 2017) comparison to the April 2011 Flare AG, 2017, p.83, 83