Related papers: Cosmic Ray (Stochastic) Acceleration from a Backgr…
Energetic nonthermal particles (cosmic rays, CRs) are accelerated in supernova remnants, relativistic jets and other astrophysical objects. The CR energy density is typically comparable with that of the thermal components and magnetic…
Galactic cosmic rays are widely believed to be accelerated in expanding shock waves initiated by supernova explosions. The theory of diffusive shock acceleration of cosmic rays is now well established, but two fundamental questions remain…
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…
The little we do know of the physical conditions in gamma-ray bursters makes them conducive to the acceleration of high-energy cosmic rays, especially if they are at cosmological distances. We find that, with the observed statistics and…
Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) at relativistic shocks is expected to be an important acceleration mechanism in a variety of astrophysical objects including extragalactic jets in active galactic nuclei and gamma ray bursts. These sources…
Determining the spatial distribution of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) is fundamental to understand how these particles propagate in interstellar space and to infer their source spectra. The most sensitive method of studying this problem is…
The diffuse gamma-ray background radiation (GBR) at high Galactic latitudes could be dominated by inverse Compton scattering (ICS) of cosmic ray (CR) electrons on the cosmic microwave background radiation (CBR) and on starlight (SL) in an…
Clusters of galaxies and the large scale filaments that connect neighboring clusters are expected to be sites of acceleration of charged particles and sources of non-thermal radiation from radio frequencies to gamma rays. Gamma rays are…
The theory of diffusive particle acceleration explains the spectral properties of the cosmic rays below energies of approx. 10^6 GeV as produced at strong shocks in supernova remnants (SNR's). To supply the observed flux of cosmic rays, a…
Merger and accretion shocks in clusters of galaxies can accelerate particles via first order Fermi process. Since this mechanism is believed to be intrinsically efficient, shocks are expected to be modified by the backreaction of the…
Understanding the physical mechanisms that control galaxy formation is a fundamental challenge in contemporary astrophysics. Recent advances in the field of astrophysical feedback strongly suggest that cosmic rays (CRs) may be crucially…
The origin of cosmic rays (CRs) has puzzled scientists since the pioneering discovery by Victor Hess in 1912. In the last decade, however, modern supercomputers have opened a new window on the processes regulating astrophysical…
The thermal plasma of galaxy clusters lost most of its information on how structure formation proceeded as a result of dissipative processes. In contrast, non-equilibrium distributions of cosmic rays (CR) preserve the information about…
The acceleration of charged particles at astrophysical collisionless shock waves is one of the best studied processes for the energization of particles to ultrarelativistic energies, required by multifrequency observations in a variety of…
We investigate a mechanism for accelerating cool (10$^4$ K) clouds in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) with cosmic rays (CRs), possibly explaining some characteristics of observed high velocity clouds (HVCs). Enforcing CRs to stream down…
Highly relativistic jets from merger and accretion induced collapse of compact stellar objects, which may produce the cosmological gamma ray bursts (GRBs), are also very efficient and powerful cosmic ray accelerators. The expected…
Gamma-ray bursts and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays provide an important testing ground for fundamental physics. A simple-minded analysis of some gamma-ray bursts would lead to a huge estimate of the overall energy emitted, and this…
In situ particle acceleration is probably occuring in cluster radio haloes. This is suggested by the uniformity and extent of the haloes, given that spatial diffusion is slow and that radiative losses limit particle lifetimes. Stochastic…
Radio observations prove the existence of relativistic particles and magnetic field associated with the intra-cluster-medium (ICM) through the presence of extended synchrotron emission in the form of radio halos and peripheral relics. This…
The origin of the extragalactic gamma-ray background is a pressing cosmological mystery. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has recently measured the intensity and spectrum of this background; both are substantially different from previous…