Astrophysical ZeV acceleration in the relativistic jet from an accreting supermassive blackhole

• Alfven wave bursts emitted from accretion disk around a blackhole accelerate particles to ZeV.
• The acceleration is collinear to the particle motion and does not suffer from the radiation loss.
• Accelerated protons/nuclei become ultra high energy cosmic rays beyond 10201020 eV.
• The system also accelerates electrons to emit gamma-rays in above 100 GeV.
• The theory explains the natures of gamma-ray and variability of blazars.

An accreting supermassive blackhole, the central engine of active galactic nucleus (AGN), is capable of exciting extreme amplitude Alfven waves whose wavelength (wave packet) size is characterized by its clumpiness. The pondermotive force and wakefield are driven by these Alfven waves propagating in the AGN (blazar) jet, and accelerate protons/nuclei to extreme energies beyond Zetta-electron volt (ZeV=1021ZeV=1021 eV). Such acceleration is prompt, localized, and does not suffer from the multiple scattering/bending enveloped in the Fermi acceleration that causes excessive synchrotron radiation loss beyond 10191019 eV. The production rate of ZeV cosmic rays is found to be consistent with the observed gamma-ray luminosity function of blazars and their time variabilities.