Magnetic Field Amplification and Rapid Time Variations in SNR RX J1713.7-3946

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating suggesting that collisionless shocks in supernova remnants (SNRs) can amplify the interstellar magnetic field to hundreds of microgauss or even milli-gauss levels, as recently claimed for SNR RX J1713.7-3946. If these fields exist, they are almost certainly created by magnetic field amplification (MFA) associated with the efficient production of cosmic rays by diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) and their existence strengthens the case for SNRs being the primary source of galactic cosmic ray ions to the `knee' and beyond. However, the high magnetic field values in SNRs are obtained exclusively from the interpretation of observations of radiation from relativistic electrons and if MFA via nonlinear DSA produces these fields the magnetic field that determines the maximum ion energy will be substantially less than the field that determines the maximum electron energy. We use results of a steady-state Monte Carlo simulation to show how nonlinear effects from efficient cosmic ray production and MFA reduce the maximum energy of protons relative to what would be expected from test-particle acceleration.

Submitted to ApJ Letters October 2007, 5 pages with 2 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Non linear particle acceleration at non-relativistic shock waves in the presence of self-generated turbulence
• Inverse Compton Emission from Galactic Supernova Remnants: Effect of the Interstellar Radiation Field
• Theory of cosmic ray production in the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946
• Nonlinear Diffusive Shock Acceleration with Magnetic Field Amplification
• The maximum momentum of particles accelerated at cosmic ray modified shocks
• Turbulence and particle acceleration in collisionless supernovae remnant shocks: I-Anisotropic spectra solutions

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Observations of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Production of Magnetic Turbulence by Cosmic Rays Drifting Upstream of Supernova Remnant Shocks
• Gamma ray emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946 and the origin of galactic cosmic rays
• Origin of Cosmic Rays
• Observations of the shell-type SNR Cassiopeia A at TeV energies with VERITAS
• Turbulence Dissipation and Particle Injection in Non-Linear Diffusive Shock Acceleration with Magnetic Field Amplification
• 3-D Model of Broadband Emission from Supernova Remnants Undergoing Non-linear Diffusive Shock Acceleration
• Cosmic Ray Origin: Lessons from Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays and the Galactic/Extragalactic Transition
• 3D simulations of the non-thermal broad-band emission from young supernova remnants including efficient particle acceleration