Particle acceleration at magnetized, relativistic turbulent shock fronts

Abstract

The efficiency of particle acceleration at shock waves in relativistic, magnetized astrophysical outflows is a debated topic with far-reaching implications. Here, for the first time, we study the impact of turbulence in the pre-shock plasma. Our simulations demonstrate that, for a mildly relativistic, magnetized pair shock (Lorentz factor ${\gamma }_{\mathrm{sh}}\simeq 2.7$, magnetization level $\sigma \simeq 0.01$), strong turbulence can revive particle acceleration in a superluminal configuration that otherwise prohibits it. Depending on the initial plasma temperature and magnetization, stochastic-shock-drift or diffusive-type acceleration governs particle energization, producing powerlaw spectra $\mathrm{d}N/\mathrm{d}\gamma \propto {\gamma }^{-s}$ with $s\sim 2.5-3.5$. At larger magnetization levels, stochastic acceleration within the pre-shock turbulence becomes competitive and can even take over shock acceleration.

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Prospects for ultra-high-energy particle acceleration at relativistic shocks