Related papers: Particle Acceleration in Shearing Flows: Efficienc…
Shear flows, ubiquitous in space and astrophysical plasmas, can accelerate particles through turbulence excited by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We present the first numerical study of particle acceleration in non-relativistic,…
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…
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…
Theoretical concepts ofn cosmic ray particle acceleration at relativistic plasma flows -- shocks and shear layers -- are reviewed. We begin with a discussion of mildly relativistic shock waves. The role of oblique field configurations and…
In three-dimensional electromagnetic configurations that result from unstable resistive tearing modes particles can efficiently be accelerated to relativistic energies. To prove this resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations are used as…
Particle acceleration by means of non-linear plasma wave interactions is of great topical interest. Accordingly, in this paper we focus on the electron surfing process. Self-consistent kinetic simulations, using both relativistic Vlasov and…
Extragalactic plasma jets are some of the few astrophysical environments able to confine ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, but whether they are capable of accelerating these particles is unknown. In this work, we revisit particle acceleration…
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…
Shear particle acceleration is a promising candidate for the origin of extended high-energy emission in extra-galactic jets. In this paper, we explore the applicability of a shear model to 24 X-ray knots in the large-scale jets of FR II…
A set of ballpark parameters for laser, plasma, and accelerator technologies that define for electron energies reaching as high as TeV are identified. These ballpark parameters are carved out from the fundamental scaling laws that govern…
In this paper we present an investigation of numerical Monte Carlo simulations of the diffusive shock acceleration in the test particle limit. Very high gamma flow astrophysical plasmas, have been used, from $\gamma_{up}$ $\sim50$ up to…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their relativistic jets are believed to be potential sites of ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic ray acceleration. This paper reviews basic observational findings as well as requirements on source energetics,…
Gamma rays trace accelerated particles, and the observed flux of extragalactic gamma rays therefore constrains the global efficiency for particle acceleration. Extragalactic jets in active galactic nuclei can account for the gamma ray…
A microscopic analysis of the viscous energy gain of energetic particles in (gradual) non-relativistic shear flows is presented. We extend previous work and derive the Fokker-Planck coefficients for the average rate of momentum change and…
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…
We present calculations of the dynamics of highly ionized gas clouds that are confined by external pressure, and are ionized by AGN continuum. We focus on the gas that is seen in absorption in the X-ray spectrum of many AGN and show that…
A new regime is described for Radiation Pressure Acceleration of a thin foil by an intense laser beam of above 10^20 W/cm^2. Highly monoenergetic proton beams extending to GeV energies can be produced with very high efficiency using…
In high-energy astrophysics, interpreting observed spectra hinges on understanding the competition between energy gains and radiative losses. To progress along these lines, we report on particle-in-cell simulations of particle acceleration…
Recent experimental and theoretical results have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons in the MeV range by focusing tightly a few-cycle laser beam in ambient air. Using Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations, this configuration…
We demonstrate laser-plasma acceleration of high charge electron beams to the ~10 MeV scale using ultrashort laser pulses with as little energy as 10 mJ. This result is made possible by an extremely dense and thin hydrogen gas jet. Total…