Pulsar Winds: Ultimate Relativistic Outflows

A highest density body that features the strongest magnetic field launches, no surprise, an ultimate outflow -- pulsar wind. Despite their relativistic nature and complexity, a few simple analogies can help us to understand the essence of pulsar physics. I will present several links connecting basic mechanics and electrodynamics, every-day thermodynamics and hydrodynamics to the processes taking place in the vicinity of pulsars. These fundamental relations not only provide a simple mental image for the pulsar physics but also have their imprint in high-energy data obtained from pulsars and pulsar wind nebulae.