Related papers: Relativistic parsec-scale jets: I. Particle accele…
Different electron acceleration regimes in the evanescent field of a surface plasma wave are studied by considering the interaction of a test electron with the high-frequency electromagnetic field of a surface wave. The non-relativistic and…
Context. Converging flows with strong magnetic fields of different polarity can accelerate particles through magnetic reconnection. If the particle mean free path is longer than the reconnection layer is thick, but much shorter than the…
We carry out a general relativistic study of radiatively driven, conical fluid jets around non-rotating black holes and investigate the effects and significance of radiative acceleration, as well as radiation drag. We apply relativistic…
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 review the physics of relativistic shocks, which are often invoked as the sources of non-thermal particles in pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets, and as possible sources of…
A novel model of particle acceleration in the rotating magnetospheres of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and pulsars is constructed. The particle energies may be boosted up to enormous energies in a several step mechanism. In the first stage,…
Power-law distributions are a near universal feature of energetic particle spectra in the heliosphere. Anomalous Cosmic Rays (ACRs), super-Alfv\'enic ions in the solar wind and the hardest energetic electron spectra in flares all have…
Geometry of relativistic jets in active galaxies provides important information about mechanisms of launching, collimation and acceleration of plasma flow. We propose a new method to probe a boundary shape of a jet on parsec scales -- in…
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…
An electron irradiated by a linearly polarized relativistic intensity laser pulse in a cylindrical plasma channel can gain significant energy from the pulse. The laser electric and magnetic fields drive electron oscillations in a plane…
Recent Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations of the relativistic jet in the M87 radio galaxy at 43 GHz show gradual relativistic acceleration of the plasma and suggest a linear dependence of Lorentz factor on jet radius at scales…
This work presents a model for generating nonthermal power-law tails of particles' energy probability density functions in turbulent collisionless plasmas, applicable to both non-relativistic and relativistic scenarios. We propose that…
In this Letter, we suggest that the relativistic protons powering the outflows emanating from radio-loud systems containing black holes are accelerated at standing, centrifugally-supported shocks in hot, advection-dominated accretion disks.…
The structure of a relativistically hot, strongly magnetized jet is investigated at large distances from the source. Asymptotic equations are derived describing collimation and acceleration of the externally confined jet. Conditions are…
We study the kinematics of ridge lines on the pc-scale jet of the active galactic nucleus BL Lac. We show that the ridge lines display transverse patterns that move superluminally downstream, and that the moving patterns are analogous to…
The self-consistent problem of the wave and particle spectrum is formulated and solved for acceleration of particles in a homogeneous magnetic field that varies periodically with time. It follows from the obtained solutions that when…
Context: Growing observational evidence suggests that sub-relativistic astrophysical jets may accelerate particles at slowly evolving standing shocks. Recollimation shocks are expected to develop when jets expand in dense environments;…
Accreting black holes produce powerful relativistic plasma jets which emit radiation across all observable wavelengths but the details of the initial acceleration and confinement of the jet are uncertain. We apply an innovative new model…
Magnetic reconnection in the relativistic regime has been proposed as an important process for the efficient production of nonthermal particles and high-energy emissions. Using fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate how…
We investigate the motion of free relativistic particles relative to the ambient medium around a gravitationally collapsed system. If the relative speed exceeds a critical value given by c/sqrt(2), the gravitational tidal effects exhibit…