Princeton University Astroplasmas Seminar

Rapidly spinning millisecond pulsars represent some of the most impressive astrophysical machines. A unique class of these objects known as spider pulsars are found in tight binaries with low mass companions. The pulsar emission irradiates the companion star, driving off a massive stellar wind, which can collide with the pulsar wind to produce an intrabinary relativistic shock. Divided into black widows and redbacks, spider pulsars can have their intrabinary shocks wrap around either the pulsar or the companion. These shocks represent sites of magnetic reconnection and high energy particle acceleration which manifests in X-ray emission. In this talk I will discuss how spider pulsars represent excellent probes of the pulsar wind and astrophysical shock-driven magnetic reconnection through recent X-ray analyses of the intrabinary shock of the massive redback pulsar J2215+5135 and future polarization measurements enabled by IXPE.