Tidal Acceleration of Ultrarelativistic Particles

Abstract

We investigate the motion of free relativistic particles relative to the ambient medium around a gravitationally collapsed system. If the relative speed exceeds a critical value given by c/sqrt(2), the gravitational tidal effects exhibit novel features that are contrary to Newtonian expectations. In particular, ultrarelativistic jet clumps moving freely outward along the rotation axis strongly decelerate with respect to the ambient medium, while ultrarelativistic particles strongly accelerate in directions normal to the jet axis. The implications of these direct consequences of general relativity for jets in microquasars and the origin of the high-energy cosmic rays are briefly mentioned.

4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters

References in corpus (4)

• Spatial Variation of the X-ray spectrum of the Crab Nebula
• The Generalized Jacobi Equation
• A new model of a tidally disrupted star
• The gravitoelectromagnetic stress-energy tensor

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Explicit Fermi Coordinates and Tidal Dynamics in de Sitter and Goedel Spacetimes
• Tidal Dynamics in Cosmological Spacetimes
• Tidal Dynamics in Kerr Spacetime
• Gravitomagnetic Jets
• Beyond Gravitoelectromagnetism: Critical Speed in Gravitational Motion
• Double-Kasner Spacetime: Peculiar Velocities and Cosmic Jets
• Gravitomagnetic Accelerators
• Tidal effects on magnetic gyration of a charged particle in Fermi coordinates
• A fully relativistic radial fall
• Pre-big bang geometric extensions of inflationary cosmologies
• Indirect (source-free) integration method. II. Self-force consistent radial fall
• Maximal Fermi charts and geometry of inflationary universes
• General Relativistic Gravity Gradiometry
• Relativistic Tidal Accelerations in the Exterior Schwarzschild Spacetime