Analytic study of 1D diffusive relativistic shock acceleration

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4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) by relativistic shocks is thought to generate the dN/dE E -p spectra of charged particles in various astronomical relativistic flows. We show that for test particles in one dimension (1D), p -1 =1-[γ d (1+β d )]/[γ u (1+β u )], where β ud ) is the upstream (downstream) normalized velocity, and γ is the respective Lorentz factor. This analytically captures the main properties of relativistic DSA in higher dimensions, with no assumptions on the diffusion mechanism. Unlike 2D and 3D, here the spectrum is sensitive to the equation of state even in the ultra-relativistic limit, and (for a J{üttner-Synge equation of state) noticeably hardens with increasing 1<γ u <57, before logarithmically converging back to p(γ u )=2. The 1D spectrum is sensitive to drifts, but only in the downstream, and not in the ultra-relativistic limit.

Original languageEnglish
Article number025
JournalJournal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Volume2017
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 18 Oct 2017

Keywords

  • cosmic ray theory
  • particle acceleration

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics

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