On Singularities in a Relativistic Pulsar Wind

Jianke Li

ANU Astrophysical Theory Centre,
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science -
the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories,
The Australian National University,
ACT 0200, AUSTRALIA

Abstract:

The nature of a singularity in a cool, gravitation-free axisymmetrical, relativistic, steady pulsar wind is further investigated, in line with the recent counter-argument of Ardavan (1995 thereafter A95) that the pure Alfvén ``singularity'' has an equal importance as the Alfvén singularity if one defines the singularity via a quadratic form rather than using the ratio as adopted by Li & Melrose (1994). The pure Alfvénic point in Ardavan's analysis coincides with the proposed characteristic point through which a continuous wind will meet the star and infinity. However, we find that the critical point as implied in the quadratic form is in fact the intermediate point (Ardavan 1979), but not the pure Alfvénic point. Thus the analysis of A95 does not indicate any significance of the pure Alfvénic point. We also demonstrate that the intermediate point which appears in the quadratic form of A95 is not genuine.

© Copyright Astronomical Society of Australia 1997