Supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae and their interaction

Abstract

A supernova explosion marks the end of the evolution of a massive star. What remains of the exploded star is a high density neutron star or a black hole. The material which has been ejected by the supernova explosion will manifest itself as a supernova remnant: a hot bubble of gas expanding in the interstellar medium.

This thesis deals with the phenomena after the supernova explosion. The emphasis will be on those supernova remnants which are interacting with a pulsar wind nebula. The latter is driven by a fast rotating neutron star, a pulsar, which converts part of its rotational energy into a relativistic pulsar wind. This pulsar wind blows an extremely hot bubble of gas into its surroundings.

At its birth event, the pulsar will be located at the center of the expanding supernova remnant. Due to its gained velocity at birth, it will move, and ultimately break through the supernova remnant. The pulsar wind bubble will be dragged along through the supernova remnant by the pulsar. Therefor one can distinguish between (young) centered pulsar wind nebulae, and the older excentric pulsar wind nebulae.

Throughout this thesis both cases will be considered and modelled by using a hydrodynamics code. In a few cases we combine the hydrodynamics code with an algorithm which simultaneously calculates the propagation and acceleration of energetic particles in the (hydrodynamical) flow.