Related papers: Particle acceleration at relativistic shock waves
Being the most extreme explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide a unique laboratory to study various plasma physics phenomena. The complex lightcurve and broad-band, non-thermal spectra indicate a very complicated system…
In turbulent magnetized plasmas, charged particles can be accelerated to high energies through their interactions with the turbulent motions. As they do so, they draw energy from the turbulence, possibly up to the point where they start…
The acceleration time scale for the process of first-order Fermi acceleration in relativistic shock waves with oblique magnetic field configurations is investigated by the method of Monte Carlo particle simulations. We demonstrate the…
A comprehensive review is given of the various processes proposed for accelerating particles by shocks to high energies. These energies are limited by several bounds: the non-relativistic nature of the heliospheric collisionless shocks to…
In the present paper we discuss the modifications introduced into the first-order Fermi shock acceleration process due to a finite extent of diffusive regions near the shock or due to boundary conditions leading to an increased particle…
We determine the spectrum of particles accelerated at shocks with arbitrary speed and arbitrary scattering properties for different choices of the equation of state of the downstream plasma. More specifically we consider the effect of…
Diffusive shock acceleration at collisionless shocks remains the most likely process for accelerating particles in a variety of astrophysical sources. While the standard prediction for strong shocks is that the spectrum of accelerated…
Weakly magnetized, relativistic collisionless shock waves are not only the natural offsprings of relativistic jets in high-energy astrophysical sources, they are also associated with some of the most outstanding displays of energy…
We apply collisionless particle-in-cell simulations of relativistic pair plasmas to explore whether driven turbulence is a viable high-energy astrophysical particle accelerator. We characterize nonthermal particle distributions for varying…
Using test particle simulations we study particle acceleration at highly perpendicular ($\theta_{Bn}\geq 75^\circ$) shocks under conditions of modeling magnetic turbulence. We adopt a backward-in-time method to solve the Newton-Lorentz…
Relativistic shocks are usually thought to occur in violent astrophysical explosions. These collisionless shocks are mediated by a plasma kinetic streaming instability, often loosely referred to as the Weibel instability, which generates…
Relativistic collisionless shocks are believed to be efficient particle accelerators. Nonlinear outcome of the interaction of accelerated particles that run ahead of the shock, the so-called "precursor", with the unperturbed plasma of the…
In this chapter, we review some features of particle acceleration in astrophysical jets. We begin by describing four observational results relating to the topic, with particular emphasis on jets in active galactic nuclei and parallels…
The process of diffusive shock acceleration relies on the efficacy with which hydromagnetic waves can scatter charged particles in the precursor of a shock. The growth of self-generated waves is driven by both resonant and non-resonant…
We expand the off-resonant scattering theory for particle diffusion in magnetized current filaments that can be typically compared to astrophysical jets, including active galactic nucleus jets. In a high plasma beta region where the…
Imagine a swarm of free particles near a point P outside a gravitating mass M and a free reference particle at P that is on a radial escape trajectory away from M. Relative to this reference particle and in a Fermi normal coordinate system…
In this Letter, we suggest that the relativistic protons powering the outflows emanating from radio-loud systems containing black holes are accelerated at standing, centrifugally-supported shocks in hot, advection-dominated accretion disks.…
Nonthermal relativistic plasmas are ubiquitous in astrophysical systems like pulsar wind nebulae and active galactic nuclei, as inferred from their emission spectra. The underlying nonthermal particle acceleration (NTPA) processes have…
The probability that a particle, crossing the shock along a given direction, be reflected backwards along another direction, was shown to be the key element in determining the spectrum of non--thermal particles accelerated via the Fermi…
We report the results of 1D particle-in-cell simulations of ultrarelativistic shock waves in proton-electron-positron plasmas. We consider magnetized shock waves, in which the upstream medium carries a large scale magnetic field, directed…