Related papers: Particle Acceleration at Relativistic Shocks
The outflows from gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei and relativistic jets in general interact with the surrounding media through collisionless shocks. With three dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations we investigate…
The first-order Fermi acceleration process at an ultra-relativistic shock wave is expected to create a particle spectrum with the unique asymptotic spectral index sigma_{gamma >> 1} approximately 2.2. Below, we discuss this result and…
Using an eigenfunction expansion to solve the transport equation, complemented by Monte-Carlo simulations, we show that ultrarelativistic shocks can be effective particle accelerators even when they fail to produce large amplitude…
Energy spectra of particles accelerated by the first-order Fermi mechanism are investigated at ultrarelativistic shock waves, outside the range of Lorentz factors considered previously. For particle transport near the shock a numerical…
We discuss how the electrons in relativistic GRB shocks can reach near-equipartition in energy with the protons. We emphasize the non-Fermi origin of such acceleration. We argue that the dynamics of the electrons in the foreshock region and…
Theory of the first-order Fermi acceleration of cosmic ray particles at relativistic shock waves is reviewed. We consider shocks with parallel and oblique, sub- and super-luminal magnetic field configurations and with finite-amplitude…
Ab-initio numerical study of collisionless shocks in electron-ion unmagnetized plasmas is performed with fully relativistic particle in cell simulations. The main properties of the shock are shown, focusing on the implications for particle…
A comprehensive review is given of the various processes proposed for accelerating particles by shocks to high energies. These energies are limited by several bounds: the non-relativistic nature of the heliospheric collisionless shocks to…
First-order Fermi acceleration processes at ultrarelativistic shocks are studied with Monte Carlo simulations. The accelerated particle spectra are derived by integrating the exact particle trajectories in a turbulent magnetic field near…
This paper presents numerical simulations of test particle Fermi acceleration at relativistic shocks of Lorentz factor Gamma_sh = 2-60, using a realistic downstream magnetic structure obtained from the shock jump conditions. The upstream…
Shear flows are ubiquitously present in space and astrophysical plasmas. This paper highlights the central idea of the non-thermal acceleration of charged particles in shearing flows and reviews some of the recent developments. Topics…
The probability that a particle, crossing the shock along a given direction, be reflected backwards along another direction, was shown to be the key element in determining the spectrum of non--thermal particles accelerated via Fermi…
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…
Shocks in astrophysical fluids can generate suprathermal particles by first order (or diffusive) Fermi acceleration. In the test particle regime there is a simple relation between the spectrum of the accelerated particles and the jump…
This paper summarizes recent progresses in our theoretical understanding of particle acceleration at relativistic shock waves and it discusses two salient consequences: (1) the maximal energy of accelerated particles; (2) the impact of the…
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.…
We derive an upper limit to the energy of nuclei accelerated via the Fermi mechanism in any relativistic shockwave, driven by any astrophysical engine. This bound is accessible to current and upcoming ultra-high energy neutrino experiments.…
Collisionless plasma shock theory, which applies for example to the afterglow of gamma ray bursts, still contains key issues that are poorly understood. In this paper we study charged particle dynamics in a highly relativistic collisionless…
This paper presents a new method of Monte-Carlo simulations of test particle Fermi acceleration at relativistic shocks. The particle trajectories in tangled magnetic fields are integrated out exactly from entry to exit through the shock,…
The acceleration time scale for the process of first-order Fermi acceleration in relativistic shock waves with oblique magnetic field configurations is investigated by the method of Monte Carlo particle simulations. We demonstrate the…