Related papers: "Blobs" in blazar jets
We consider diatomic systems in which the kinetic energy of the electrons is treated in a simple relativistic model. The Born-Oppenheimer approximation is assumed. We investigate questions of stability, deducing bounds on the number $N$ of…
Highly energetic, relativistic electrons are commonly present in many astrophysical systems, from solar flares to the intra-cluster medium, as indicated by observed electromagnetic radiation. However, open questions remain about the…
The kinetic energy of bulk relativistic plasma ejected from the central engine of blazars is converted into nonthermal particle energy in the comoving frame through a process of sweeping up material from the surrounding medium. The…
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been often considered as the natural evolution of some core-collapse supernovae (SNe). While GRBs with relativistic jets emit an electromagnetic signal, GRBs with mildly relativistic jets are…
Blazars are characterized by large amplitude and fast variability, indicating that the electron distribution is rapidly changing, often on time scales shorter than the light crossing time. The emitting region is sufficiently compact to let…
A brief overview on the theory and observations of relativistic particle populations in clusters of galaxies is given. The following topics are addressed: (i) the diffuse relativistic electron population within the intra-cluster medium…
The Drude-Lorentz model for the motion of electrons in a solid is a classical model in statistical mechanics, where electrons are represented as point particles bouncing on a fixed system of obstacles (the atoms in the solid). Under some…
We explore the possibility that the fast and exotic negative ions in superfluid helium are electrons bound to quantized vortex structures, the simplest being a ring. In the states we consider, the electron energy is only slightly below the…
Observational aspects of solar flares relevant to the acceleration process of electrons and protons are reviewed and it is shown that most of these observations can be explained by the interaction with flare plasma of a power law energy…
I constrain a possible supernova origin for gamma-ray bursts by modeling the dynamical interaction between a relativistic jet and a stellar envelope surrounding it. The delay in observer's time introduced by the jet traversing the envelope…
Lorentz violation at high energies might lead to non linear dispersion relations for the fundamental particles. We analyze observational constraints on these without assuming any a priori equality between the coefficients determining the…
We construct a numerical model of emission from minijets, localized flows driven by magnetic reconnection inside Poynting-flux-dominated jets proposed to explain the ultrafast variability of blazars. The geometrical structure of the model…
Multiwavelength observations of high energy flare in 1996 from 3C 279 seems to favour the so called mirror model between different inverse Compton scattering models proposed as a possible explanation of gamma-ray emission in blazars. We…
If gamma ray bursts are highly collimated, the energy requirements of each event may be reduced by several (~ 4-6) orders of magnitude, and the event rate increased correspondingly. Extreme conditions in gamma ray bursters lead to highly…
Recent observational and theoretical results on blazars are presented and discussed. We are beginning to understand the rich phenomenology of blazars, and we are finding trends which will hopefully lead us to unveil the physics of these…
Gradual shear acceleration of energetic particles in gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets is considered. Special emphasis is given to the analysis of universal structured jets, and characteristic acceleration timescales are determined for a power-law…
The extremely rapid burst of TeV photons from Mkn 421 (15 May 1996) can be reconciled with the standard properties of a relativistic gamma-ray emitting jet (bulk Lorentz factor $\approx$ 10; size $\10^{17}$ cm) if one assumes that the…
A cornerstone of special relativity is Lorentz Invariance, the postulate that all observers measure exactly the same photon speeds independently on the photon energies. However, a hypothesized structure of spacetime may alter this…
We study the effect of variable jet bulk Lorentz factors, i.e., either jet acceleration or deceleration, on partially synchrotron self-absorbed radio spectra from cores of radio-loud active galactic nuclei and black-hole binaries in the…
Rapid and luminous flares of non-thermal radiation observed in blazars require an efficient mechanism of energy dissipation and particle acceleration in relativistic active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. Particle acceleration in relativistic…