Photons' scattering in a relativistic plasma with velocity shear: generation of high energy power-law spectra
arXiv:2207.11481 · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acaefa
Abstract
A high energy power law is a common feature in the spectra of many astrophysical objects. We show that the photons in a relativistic plasma with a variable Lorentz factor go through repeated scattering with electrons to gain energy. The escaped population of photons naturally produces a power-law-shaped spectrum making it an anisotropic analogue to the conventional Fermi acceleration mechanism of charged particles. Thus, this mechanism provides a natural alternative to current explanations of high energy power-law spectra via synchrotron or thermal Comptonization. The model is applicable to any relativistic plasma beam with an arbitrary Lorentz factor profile. We implement the theory to GRB prompt phase and show that the obtained range of the photon indices is compatible with the observed values. Therefore, the observed high energy spectral indices provide a unique indicator of the jet structure.
6 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to PRL
References in corpus (7)
- Jet Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87
- Temporal Evolution Of Thermal Emission From Relativistically Expanding Plasma
- Quasi-blackbody component and radiative efficiency of the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts
- A backscattering dominated prompt emission model for the prompt phase of Gamma ray bursts
- The contribution of bulk Comptonization to the soft X-ray excess in AGN
- Predicting spectral parameters in the backscattering dominated model for the prompt phase of GRBs
- Effect of Fluid Composition on a Jet Breaking Out of a Cocoon in Gamma-ray Bursts: A Relativistic de Laval Nozzle Treatment