Related papers: An Introduction to Particle Acceleration in Sheari…
Particle acceleration at astrophysical shocks may be very efficient if magnetic scattering is self-generated by the same particles. This nonlinear process adds to the nonlinear modification of the shock due to the dynamical reaction of the…
The non-thermal particle spectra responsible for the emission from many astrophysical systems are thought to originate from shocks via a first order Fermi process otherwise known as diffusive shock acceleration. The same mechanism is also…
We present evidence that relativistic shocks propagating in unmagnetized plasmas can self-consistently accelerate particles. We use long-term two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to study the well-developed shock structure in…
We give a short review of processes of stochastic acceleration in the Galaxy. We discuss: how to estimate correctly the number of accelerated particles, and at which condition the stochastic mechanism is able to generate power-law…
We discuss the phenomenon of energization of relativistic charged particles in three-dimensional (3D) incompressible MHD turbulence and the diffusive properties of the motion of the same particles. We show that the random electric field…
X-ray observations of several kiloparsec-scale extragalactic jets favour a synchrotron origin. The short cooling times of the emitting electrons requires distributed acceleration of electrons up to sub-PeV energies. In a previous paper, we…
In this review we confront the current theoretical understanding of particle acceleration at relativistic outflows with recent observational results on various source classes thought to involve such outflows, e.g. gamma-ray bursts, active…
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…
High-resolution radio observations of nearby active galactic nuclei have revealed extended, limb-brightened structures in their inner jets. This ties in with other multi-wavelength observations from radio to X-ray and gamma-ray, indicating…
Relativistic current sheets have been proposed as the sites of dissipation in pulsar winds, jets in active galaxies and other Poynting-flux dominated flows. It is shown that the steady versions of these structures differ from their…
Nonthermal acceleration of particles in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence plays a central role in a wide variety of astrophysical sites. This physics is addressed here in the context of a strong turbulence, composed of coherent…
We have investigated particle acceleration and emission from shocks and shear flows associated with an unmagnetized relativistic jet plasma propagating into an unmagnetized ambient plasma. Strong electro-magnetic fields are generated in the…
We present Particle-in-Cell simulation results of relativistic shear boundary layers between electron-ion and electron-positron plasmas and discuss their potential applications to astrophysics. Specifically, we find in the case of a fast…
While collisionless plasmas are ubiquitously present near astrophysical compact objects, the impact that their composition has on the high-energy emission is presently unknown. We present the first investigation of particle-acceleration…
Particles crossing repeatedly the surface of a shock wave can be energized by first order Fermi acceleration. The linear theory is successful in describing the acceleration process as long as the pressure of the accelerated particles…
We investigate the physics of particle acceleration at non-relativistic shocks exploiting two different and complementary approaches, namely a semi-analytic modeling of cosmic-ray modified shocks and large hybrid (kinetic protons/fluid…
Stochastic acceleration of electrons and protons by waves propagating parallel to the large scale magnetic fields of magnetized plasmas is studied with emphasis on the feasibility of accelerating particles from a thermal background to…
These notes present the fundamentals of Fermi acceleration at shocks, with a special attention to the role that supernova remnants have in producing Galactic cosmic rays. Then, the recent discoveries in the theory of diffusive shock…
The motion of a deformable active particle in linear shear flow is explored theoretically. Based on symmetry considerations, in two spatial dimensions, we propose coupled nonlinear dynamical equations for the particle position, velocity,…
A review of theoretical results on cosmic ray first-order Fermi acceleration at relativistic shock waves is presented, with recent results substantially changing the existing knowledge on these processes. In particular one can not expect…