Spatial intermittency of particle distribution in relativistic plasma turbulence

Cristian Vega; Stanislav Boldyrev; Vadim Roytershteyn

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/accd73

paper

Spatial intermittency of particle distribution in relativistic plasma turbulence

arXiv:2304.11000 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/accd73

Abstract

Relativistic magnetically dominated turbulence is an efficient engine for particle acceleration in a collisionless plasma. Ultrarelativistic particles accelerated by interactions with turbulent fluctuations form non-thermal power-law distribution functions in the momentum (or energy) space, $f (γ) d γ \propto γ^{- α} d γ$ , where $γ$ is the Lorenz factor. We argue that in addition to exhibiting non-Gaussian distributions over energies, particles energized by relativistic turbulence also become highly intermittent in space. Based on particle-in-cell numerical simulations and phenomenological modeling, we propose that the bulk plasma density has log-normal statistics, while the density of the accelerated particles, $n$ , has a power-law distribution function, $P (n) d n \propto n^{- β} d n$ . We argue that the scaling exponents are related as $β \approx α + 1$ , which is broadly consistent with numerical simulations. Non-space-filling, intermittent distributions of plasma density and energy fluctuations may have implications for plasma heating and for radiation produced by relativistic turbulence.

arXiv comment10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Updated to match final ApJ version

Spatial intermittency of particle distribution in relativistic plasma turbulence

Abstract

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