Related papers: Particle acceleration up to the synchrotron burn-o…
Nature's most powerful high-energy sources are capable of accelerating particles to high energy and radiate it away on extremely short timescales, even shorter than the light crossing time of the system. It is yet unclear what physical…
This proceedings paper reports on the theoretical modelling of particle acceleration in magnetised turbulent plasmas. It briefly reviews some recent findings obtained from fully kinetic numerical simulations of large-amplitude, semi to…
It is generally accepted that astrophysical sources cannot emit synchrotron radiation above 160 MeV in their rest frame. This limit is given by the balance between the accelerating electric force and the radiation reaction force acting on…
Synchrotron radiation detected from relativistic astrophysical objects such as pulsar-wind nebulae and {jets from active galactic nuclei} depends on the magnetic fields and the distribution functions of energetic electrons in these systems.…
The physics of particle acceleration in turbulent plasmas is a topic of broad interest, which is making rapid progress thanks to dedicated, large-scale numerical experiments. The first part of this paper presents an effective theory of…
The afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is usually interpreted as synchrotron radiation from electrons accelerated at the GRB external shock, that propagates with relativistic velocities into the magnetized interstellar medium.…
We examine Fermi-type acceleration at relativistic shocks, and distinguish between the initial boost of the first shock crossing cycle, where the energy gain per particle can be very large, and the Fermi process proper with repeated shock…
In turbulent magnetized plasmas, charged particles can be accelerated to high energies through their interactions with the turbulent motions. As they do so, they draw energy from the turbulence, possibly up to the point where they start…
Particle acceleration in relativistic collisionless shocks remains an open problem in high-energy astrophysics. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations predict that electron acceleration in weakly magnetized shocks proceeds via small-angle…
A new particle acceleration process in a developing Alfv\'{e}n turbulence in the course of successive parametric instabilities of a relativistic pair plasma is investigated by utilyzing one-dimensional electromagnetic full particle code.…
Due to its ubiquitous presence, turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in astrophysical sources of high-energy emission. With particle-in-cell simulations, we study decaying turbulence in…
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,…
Synchrotron radiation of ultra-relativistic particles accelerated in a pulsar wind nebula may dominate its spectrum up to gamma-ray energies. Because of the short cooling time of the gamma-ray emitting electrons, the gamma-ray emission zone…
We apply collisionless particle-in-cell simulations of relativistic pair plasmas to explore whether driven turbulence is a viable high-energy astrophysical particle accelerator. We characterize nonthermal particle distributions for varying…
We consider the acceleration of charged particles in relativistic shearing flows, with Lorentz factor up to $\Gamma_0 \sim 20$. We present numerical solutions to the particle transport equation and compare these with results from analytical…
The maximum synchrotron burnoff limit of 160 MeV represents a fundamental limit to radiation resulting from electromagnetic particle acceleration in one-zone ideal plasmas. In magnetic reconnection, however, particle acceleration and…
We study particle acceleration in strongly turbulent pair plasmas using novel 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations, featuring particle injection from an external heat bath and diffusive escape. We demonstrate the formation of steady-state,…
The efficiency of particle acceleration at shock waves in relativistic, magnetized astrophysical outflows is a debated topic with far-reaching implications. Here, for the first time, we study the impact of turbulence in the pre-shock…
We propose a new particle acceleration mechanism. Electron can be accelerated to relativistic energy within a few electromagnetic wave cycles through the mechanism which is named electromagnetic and magnetic field resonance acceleration…
Many powerful and variable gamma-ray sources, including pulsar wind nebulae, active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts, seem capable of accelerating particles to gamma-ray emitting energies efficiently over very short time scales. These…