Related papers: A microscopic analysis of shear acceleration
Diffusive shock acceleration at collisionless shocks remains the most likely process for accelerating particles in a variety of astrophysical sources. While the standard prediction for strong shocks is that the spectrum of accelerated…
The momentum distribution of particles accelerated at strong non-relativistic shocks may be influenced by the spatial distribution of the flow speed around the shock. This phenomenon becomes evident in the cosmic-ray modified shock, where…
We study the percolation velocity, $v_p,$ of a fine spherical particle in a sheared large-particle bed under gravity using discrete element method simulations for large-to-fine particle diameter ratios, $R=d/d_f,$ below and above the…
Following our recent paper (Petrosian & Chen 2010), we have developed an inversion method to determine the basic characteristics of the particle acceleration mechanism directly and non-parametrically from observations under the leaky box…
Simple homogeneous shear flows of frictionless, deformable particles are studied by particle simulations at large shear rates and for differently soft, deformable particles. The particle stiffness sets a time-scale that can be used to scale…
We present Particle-in-Cell simulation results of relativistic shear boundary layers between electron-ion and electron-positron plasmas and discuss their potential applications to astrophysics. Specifically, we find in the case of a fast…
X-ray observations of several kiloparsec-scale extragalactic jets favour a synchrotron origin. The short cooling times of the emitting electrons requires distributed acceleration of electrons up to sub-PeV energies. In a previous paper, we…
The Fokker-Planck equation provides complete statistical description of a particle undergoing random motion in a solvent. In the presence of Lorentz force due to an external magnetic field, the Fokker-Planck equation picks up a tensorial…
We explore constraints imposed by shear-driven instabilities on the acceleration of energetic particles in relativistic shearing flows. We show that shearing layers in large-scale AGN jets are likely to encompass a sizeable fraction ($\geq…
The alignment, ordering and rotation of elongated granular particles was studied in shear flow. The time evolution of the orientation of a large number of particles was monitored in laboratory experiments by particle tracking using optical…
Theoretical concepts ofn cosmic ray particle acceleration at relativistic plasma flows -- shocks and shear layers -- are reviewed. We begin with a discussion of mildly relativistic shock waves. The role of oblique field configurations and…
We have examined cutoffs and pile-ups due to various processes in the spectra of particles produced by shock acceleration, and found that, even in the absence of energy losses, the shape of the spectrum of accelerated particles at energies…
We present an extensive numerical study of the time irreversibility of the dynamics of heavy inertial particles in three-dimensional, statistically homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows. We show that the probability density function…
Pulsar wind nebulae are efficient particle accelerators, and yet the processes at work remain elusive. Self-generated, microturbulence is too weak in relativistic magnetized shocks to accelerate particles over a wide energy range,…
We study the dynamics of inertial particles in turbulence using datasets obtained from both direct numerical simulations and laboratory experiments of turbulent swirling flows. By analyzing time series of particle velocity increments at…
Context: Stochastic acceleration is thought to be a key mechanism in the energization of solar flare electrons. Aims: We study whether stochastic acceleration can reproduce the observed soft-hard-soft evolution of the spectral features of…
Granular materials will segregate by particle size when subjected to shear, as occurs, for example, in avalanches. The evolution of a bidisperse mixture of particles can be modeled by a nonlinear first order partial differential equation,…
A self-consistent and universal description of friction and diffusion for Brownian particles (grains) in different systems, as a gas with Boltzmann collisions, dusty plasma with ion absorption by grains, and for active particles (e.g.,…
A stochastic model is proposed for the acceleration of non-relativistic particles yielding to energy spectra with a shape of a Weibull\textquoteright s function. Such particle distribution is found as the stationary solution of a…
We consider the shear rheology of concentrated suspensions of non-Brownian frictional particles. The key result of our study is the emergence of a pronounced shear-thickening regime, where frictionless particles would normally undergo…