Pulsar wind nebulae of runaway massive stars

A significant fraction of massive stars move at speed through the interstellar medium of galaxies. After their death as core collapse supernovae, a possible final evolutionary state is that of a fast rotating magnetised neutron star, shaping its circumstellar medium into a pulsar wind nebula. Understanding the properties of pulsar wind nebulae requires knowledge of the evolutionary history of their massive progenitors. Using 2.5D magnetohydrodynamical simulations, we demonstrate that, in the context of a runaway high mass red supergiant supernova progenitor, the morphology of its subsequent pulsar wind nebula is strongly affected by the wind of the defunct progenitor star preshaping the stellar surroundings throughout its entire past life. In particular, pulsar wind nebulae of obscured runaway massive stars harbour asymmetries function of the morphology of the progenitors wind blown cavity, inducing projected asymmetric up down synchrotron emission.

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