Turbulence and particle acceleration in a relativistic plasma

Abstract

In a collisionless plasma, the energy distribution function of plasma particles can be strongly affected by turbulence. In particular, it can develop a non-thermal power-law tail at high energies. We argue that turbulence with initially relativistically strong magnetic perturbations (magnetization parameter $\sigma \gg 1$) quickly evolves into a state with ultra-relativistic plasma temperature but mildly relativistic turbulent fluctuations. We present a phenomenological and numerical study suggesting that in this case, the exponent $\alpha$ in the power-law particle energy distribution function, $f(\gamma )d\gamma \propto {\gamma }^{-\alpha }d\gamma$, depends on magnetic compressibility of turbulence. Our analytic prediction for the scaling exponent $\alpha$ is in good agreement with the numerical results.

arXiv comment8 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication at ApJL

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• Energy Diffusion and Advection Coefficients in Kinetic Simulations of Relativistic Plasma Turbulence
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• Jitter Mechanism as a Kind of Coherent Radiation: Constrained by the GRB 221009A Emission at 18 TeV
• Distributions of particles accelerated by strong Alfvénic turbulence
• Anisotropy and energy distribution of leptons and photons in radiative relativistic Alfvénic turbulence
• Nonthermal particle acceleration from maximum entropy in collisionless plasmas