Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Crab pulsar and the nebula: paradigm shifts?

Maxim Lyutikov

Purdue University

We discuss growing evidence that pulsar high energy emission is generated via Inverse Compton mechanism. We reproduce the broadband spectrum of the Crab pulsar, from UV to very high energy gamma-rays - nearly ten decades in energy, within the framework of the cyclotron-self-Compton model.

Secondly, recent observations of flares in the Crab nebula call into question the prevalent model of particle acceleration in relativistic astrophysical environments, the stochastic shock acceleration. Magnetic reconnection is likely to play an important, and perhaps a dominant role.