Mar 17, 2014
Astrid Lamberts, UW-Milwaukee
"Understanding the complex emission of gamma-ray binaries"
The very high energy gamma-ray radiation from gamma-ray binaries is thought to arise from the interaction between a relativistic pulsar wind and the stellar wind of its massive companion. Multiwavelength observations display orbital variability in all wavebands and suggest that at least two distinct populations of high-energy particles are present. I present hydrodynamical simulations of such systems, using a recently developed relativistic extension to the RAMSES code. I explain how the relativistic nature of the pulsar wind affects the colliding wind structure. I show how these simulations have been coupled to a radiative code in order to model the emission properties of gamma-ray binaries.