Related papers: Stochastic Acceleration in Relativistic Parallel S…
Fermi acceleration in a Fermi-Ulam model, consisting of an ensemble of particles bouncing between two, infinitely heavy, stochastically oscillating hard walls, is investigated. It is shown that the widely used approximation, neglecting the…
Energetic particles in a turbulent medium can be subject to second-order Fermi acceleration due to scattering on moving plasma waves. This mechanism leads to growing particle momentum dispersion and, at the same time, increases the mean…
We investigate shock structure and particle acceleration in relativistic magnetized collisionless pair shocks by means of 2.5D and 3D particle-in-cell simulations. We explore a range of inclination angles between the pre-shock magnetic…
After a successful development of theoretical and numerical works on Fermi acceleration at relativistic shocks, some difficulties recently raised with the scattering issue, a crucial aspect of the process. Most pioneering works were…
A nonthermal particle acceleration mechanism involving the interaction of a charged particle with multiple magnetic islands is proposed. The original Fermi acceleration model, which assumes randomly distributed magnetic clouds moving at…
We present numerical modelling of particle acceleration at coronal shocks propagating through a streamer-like magnetic field by solving the Parker transport equation with spatial diffusion both along and across the magnetic field. We show…
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 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…
We reexamine stochastic Fermi acceleration (STFA) in the low energy (Newtonian) regime in the context of solar flares. The particle energization rate depends a dispersive term and a coherent gain term. The energy dependence of pitch angle…
The question of the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays at relativistic shock waves is discussed in the light of results of recent Monte Carlo studies of the first-order Fermi particle acceleration (Niemiec & Ostrowski 2006, Niemiec et…
We study effects of particle re-acceleration (or heating) in the post-shock region via magnetohydrodynamic/plasma turbulence, in the context of a mixed hadronic-leptonic model for the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), using both…
Fermi acceleration can take place at ultra-relativistic shock waves if the upstream or downstream magnetic field has been remodeled so that most of the magnetic power lies on short spatial scales. The relevant conditions under which Fermi…
Particle acceleration in relativistic shocks of electron-positron plasmas with proton admixture is investigated through two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The upstream plasma, with a bulk Lorentz factor of $10$ and a…
We determine the spectrum of particles accelerated at shocks with arbitrary speed and arbitrary scattering properties for different choices of the equation of state of the downstream plasma. More specifically we consider the effect of…
The origin of the extended X-ray emission in the large-scale jets of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) poses challenges to conventional models of acceleration and emission. Although the electron synchrotron radiation is considered the most…
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…
Cosmic rays are charged particles that are accelerated to relativistic speeds by astrophysical shocks. Numerical models have been successful in confirming the acceleration process for (quasi-)parallel shocks, which have the magnetic field…
We discuss the phenomenon of energization of relativistic charged particles in three-dimensional (3D) incompressible MHD turbulence and the diffusive properties of the motion of the same particles. We show that the random electric field…
Particle acceleration in relativistic shocks is studied analytically in the test-particle, small-angle scattering limit, for an arbitrary velocity-angle diffusion function D. Accurate analytic expressions for the spectral index s are…
Context: Typical space plasmas contain spatially and temporally variable turbulent electromagnetic fields. Understanding the transport of energetic particles and the acceleration mechanisms for charged particles is an important goal of…