Next: Radio emission from
Up: The beams of
Previous: The beams of
It is still quite uncertain what the exact mechanism is of the accelerated
and well collimated beams. The kinetic luminosity in the jets exceeds the
radiative luminosity of any star in the Galaxy.
On general grounds, the assumption that either rotation of or accretion onto
a compact star will provide the enourmous amount of energy, is quite plausible.
Models which should explain how the mechanism works are constrained by the
following observable parameters (Vermeulen, 1989):
- The beams must have a velocity of
and constant to a few percent
This velocity must be reached in a short period of about 100 seconds (the time
it takes to accelerate to over a distance of 
cm).
- Extremely well collimated beams with an opening angle of less than
.
- The beams are two-sided and anti-parallel. The beams show a 162 day
precession and 6 day nodding motion plus some random variations, without
loss of collimation.