Journal ArticleDOI
Lepton Acceleration by Relativistic Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection
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In this article, a self-consistent equilibria of a collisionless relativistic electron-positron gas in the vicinity of a magnetic X-point was derived.Abstract:
We have calculated self-consistent equilibria of a collisionless relativistic electron-positron gas in the vicinity of a magnetic X-point. For the considered conditions, pertinent to extragalactic jets, we find that leptons are accelerated up to Lorentz factors Γ0 = κeB0L2/mc2 1, where B0 is the typical magnetic field strength, ≡ E0/B0, with E0 the reconnection electric field, L is the length scale of the magnetic field, and κ ≈ 12. The acceleration is due to the dominance of the electric field over the magnetic field in a region around the X-point. The distribution function of the accelerated leptons is found to be approximately dn/dγ ∝ γ-1 for γ Γ0. The apparent distribution function may be steeper than γ-1 due to the distribution of Γ0 values and/or the radiative losses. Self-consistent equilibria are found only for plasma inflow rates to the X-point less than a critical value.read more
Citations
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The physics of gamma-ray bursts & relativistic jets
Pawan Kumar,Bing Zhang +1 more
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of major developments in our understanding of gamma-ray bursts, with particular focus on the discoveries made within the last fifteen years when their true nature was uncovered, can be found in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Physics of Gamma-Ray Bursts and Relativistic Jets
Pawan Kumar,Bing Zhang +1 more
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of major developments in the understanding of gamma-ray bursts can be found in this article, with particular focus on the discoveries made within the last fifteen years when their true nature was uncovered.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nonthermal Electrons in Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow Models of Sagittarius A
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated radiatively inefficient accretion flow models for Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole in our Galactic center, in light of new observational constraints.
Journal ArticleDOI
Relativistic reconnection: an efficient source of non-thermal particles
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated anti-parallel reconnection in magnetically dominated electron-positron plasmas and proved that the late-time particle spectrum integrated over the whole reconnection region is a power law whose slope is harder than −2 for magnetizations σ 10.
Journal ArticleDOI
Particle Acceleration and Plasma Dynamics during Magnetic Reconnection in the Magnetically Dominated Regime
TL;DR: In this paper, two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional kinetic simulations were carried out to investigate relativistic magnetic reconnection and the associated particle acceleration, and it was shown that the acceleration is accelerated by the curvature drift of particles along the electric field induced by the relativist flows.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
The acceleration of cosmic rays in shock fronts – I
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Particle acceleration at astrophysical shocks: A theory of cosmic ray origin
TL;DR: In this article, the theory of first order Fermi acceleration at collisionless astrophysical shock fronts is reviewed and it is argued that the wave amplitude is probably non-linear within sufficiently strong astrophysical shocks.
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Particle Acceleration by Astrophysical Shocks
TL;DR: In this article, a new mechanism is proposed for acceleration of a power-law distribution of cosmic rays with approximately the observed slope, where high-energy particles in the vicinity of a shock are scattered by Alfven waves carried by the converging fluid flow leading to a first-order acceleration process in which the escape time is automatically comparable to the acceleration time.
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Theory of extragalactic radio sources
TL;DR: In this article, a unified model of nuclear activity and a unified approach to infer the pressures, densities, and fluid velocities within jets are explained. But the model is not applicable to the case of relativistic radio sources.