کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
1767450 1020191 2008 10 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
Stochastic particle acceleration by the forced interaction of relativistic current sheets
موضوعات مرتبط
مهندسی و علوم پایه علوم زمین و سیارات علوم فضا و نجوم
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
Stochastic particle acceleration by the forced interaction of relativistic current sheets
چکیده انگلیسی

We address the problem of interacting relativistic current sheets in self-consistent kinetic plasma simulations within the framework of the Particle-In-Cell model. The interaction is enforced in head-on collisions of up to 10 current sheets at relativistic bulk speeds. The simulations are motivated by the general problem of Poynting flux dissipation in ‘striped wind’ configurations presumably governing the relativistic outflows pervasive in pulsar winds and gamma-ray bursts. We identify the generation of non-thermal particles and formation of a stable power-law shape in the particle energy distributions f(γ) dγ ∝ γ−s dγ. In 1D, a spectral index s ∼ 2 is observed and attributed to a stochastic Fermi-type acceleration mechanism. In 2D, the generic index of s ∼ 3–4 is retained as in previous simulations of individual current sheets. Whereas in 2D the high energy cut-off is constrained by the limited dissipation of magnetic energy, in 1D the process converts the bulk motion of current sheets towards directed particle momentum of an exclusive class of non-thermal particles.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Advances in Space Research - Volume 41, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 481–490
نویسندگان
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