Related papers: Radiation conditions in relativistic interstellar …
Two technological problems must be solved before daring to interstellar flight: fuel and propulsion. The highest energy-density fuel is antimatter in its solid or liquid state and this fuel is likely to be our primary choice for multi-ton…
From the point of view of radiation safety, interstellar space is not an empty void. Interstellar gas and cosmic rays, which consist of hydrogen and helium nucleons, present a severe radiation hazard to crew and electronics aboard a…
We model accelerated trips at high-velocity aboard light sails (beam-powered propulsion in general) and radiation rockets (thrust by anisotropic emission of radiation) in terms of Kinnersley's solution of general relativity and its…
Laser sails propelled by gigawatt-scale ground-based laser arrays have the potential to reach relativistic speeds, traversing the solar system in hours and reaching nearby stars in years. Here, we describe the danger interplanetary dust…
We consider effects on an (ultra-) relativistic jet and its ambient medium caused by high energy cosmic rays accelerated at the jet side boundary. As illustrated by simple models, during the acceleration process a flat cosmic ray…
The idea that the radio jets in AGN contain material in relativistic motion is supported by many lines of observational evidence, including morphology, brightness temperature estimated with interferometers and with intrinsic variations,…
This dissertation explores the dynamics of relativistic spaceflight, focusing on the risks associated with collisions and photon interactions as a spacecraft approaches velocities near the speed of light. The study emphasizes two primary…
Relativistic spacecraft, like those proposed by the NASA Starlight program and the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, will have to survive radiation production that is unique when compared to that experienced by conventional spacecraft. In a…
Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing relativistic jets and shocks, e.g., gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and Galactic microquasar systems usually have power-law emission spectra. Recent…
Current rocket technology can not send the spaceship very far, because the amount of the chemical fuel it can take is limited. We try to use dark matter (DM) as fuel to solve this problem. In this work, we give an example of DM engine using…
Relativistic jets carry energy and particles from compact to very large scales compared with their initial radius. This is possible due to their remarkable collimation despite their intrinsic unstable nature. In this contribution, I review…
The electromagnetic radiation pressure becomes dominant in the interaction of the ultra-intense electromagnetic wave with a solid material, thus the wave energy can be transformed efficiently into the energy of ions representing the…
Achieving relativistic flight to enable extrasolar exploration is one of the dreams of humanity and the long term goal of our NASA Starlight program. We derive a fully relativistic solution for the motion of a spacecraft propelled by…
Dust grains may be accelerated to relativistic speeds by radiation pressure, diffusive shocks, and other acceleration mechanisms. Such relativistic grains have been suggested as primary particles of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). In…
High energy muon colliders, such as the TeV-scale conceptual designs now being considered, are found to produce enough high energy neutrinos to constitute a potentially serious off-site radiation hazard in the neighbourhood of the…
Relativistic stellar jets, produced in binary systems called microquasars, propagate through media with different spatial scales releasing their energy in the form of work and radiation from radio to gamma rays. There are several…
Jets are found in a variety of astrophysical sources, from young stellar objects to active galactic nuclei. In all the cases the jet propagates with a supersonic velocity through the external medium, which can be inhomogeneous, and…
While special relativity imposes an absolute speed limit at the speed of light, our Universe is not empty Minkowski spacetime. The constituents that fill the interstellar/intergalactic vacuum, including the cosmic microwave background…
We use moment formalism of relativistic radiation hydrodynamics to obtain equations of motion of radial jets and solve them using polytropic equation of state of the relativistic gas. We consider curved space-time around black holes and…
It has been suggested that relativistic blast waves may power the jets of AGN and gamma-ray bursts (GRB). We address the important issue how the kinetic energy of collimated blast waves is converted into radiation. It is shown that swept-up…