Impulsive electron acceleration by Gravitational Waves

Abstract

We investigate the non-linear interaction of a strong Gravitational Wave with the plasma during the collapse of a massive magnetized star to form a black hole, or during the merging of neutron star binaries (central engine). We found that under certain conditions this coupling may result in an efficient energy space diffusion of particles. We suggest that the atmosphere created around the central engine is filled with 3-D magnetic neutral sheets (magnetic nulls). We demonstrate that the passage of strong pulses of Gravitational Waves through the magnetic neutral sheets accelerates electrons to very high energies. Superposition of many such short lived accelerators, embedded inside a turbulent plasma, may be the source for the observed impulsive short lived bursts. We conclude that in several astrophysical events, gravitational pulses may accelerate the tail of the ambient plasma to very high energies and become the driver for many types of astrophysical bursts.

13 pages, 8 figures, accepted to The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (16)

• Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Fireball Model
• Theories of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Relativistic simulations of rotational core collapse. II. Collapse dynamics and gravitational radiation
• Gravitational Wave Emission From Core-Collapse of Massive Stars
• Gravitational Waves from the Merger of Binary Neutron Stars in a Fully General Relativistic Simulation
• Radio wave emissions due to gravitational radiation
• Parametric excitation of plasma waves by gravitational radiation
• Collapse of a Magnetized Star to a Black Hole
• MHD consistent cellular automata (CA) models II. Applications to solar flares
• Non-linear gravitational wave interactions with plasmas
• Photon frequency conversion induced by gravitational radiation
• Gravitational and magnetosonic waves in gamma-ray bursts
• Fast Magnetosonic Waves Driven by Gravitational Waves
• Parametric Excitation of Alfven Waves by Gravitational Radiation
• Cyclotron damping and Faraday rotation of gravitational waves
• Particle acceleration in three-dimensional tearing configurations

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Nonlinear Interactions Between Gravitational Radiation and Modified Alfven Modes in Astrophysical Dusty Plasmas
• Interaction between gravitational waves and plasma waves in the Vlasov description
• Generation of Gravitational Radiation in Dusty Plasmas and Supernovae
• Average nonlinear dynamics of particles in gravitational pulses: effective Hamiltonian, secular acceleration, and gravitational susceptibility
• Photon-graviton pair conversion
• Parametric amplification of electromagnetic plasma waves in resonance with a dispersive background gravitational wave
• Acceleration of low energy charged particles by gravitational waves
• The Emission of Electromagnetic Radiation from Charges Accelerated by Gravitational Waves and its Astrophysical Implications