179 research outputs found
Numerical Studies of Cosmic Ray Injection and Acceleration
A numerical scheme that incorporates a thermal leakage injection model into a
combined gas dynamics and cosmic ray (CR, hereafter) diffusion-convection code
has been developed. The particle injection is followed numerically by filtering
the diffusive flux of suprathermal particles across the shock to the upstream
region according to a velocity-dependent transparency function that controls
the fraction of leaking particles. We have studied CR injection and
acceleration efficiencies during the evolution of CR modified planar shocks for
a wide range of initial shock Mach numbers, , assuming a Bohm-like
diffusion coefficient. The injection process is very efficient when the
subshock is strong, leading to fast and significant modification of the shock
structure. As the CR pressure increases, the subshock weakens and the injection
rate decreases accordingly, so that the subshock does not disappear. Although
some fraction of the particles injected early in the evolution continue to be
accelerated to ever higher energies, the postshock CR pressure reaches an
approximate time-asymptotic value due to a balance between fresh
injection/acceleration and advection/diffusion of the CR particles away from
the shock. We conclude that the injection rates in strong parallel shocks are
sufficient to lead to rapid nonlinear modifications to the shock structures and
that self-consistent injection and time-dependent simulations are crucial to
understanding the non-linear evolution of CR modified shocks.Comment: 28 pages, To appear in ApJ November 1, 2002 issu
Efficiency of Nonlinear Particle Acceleration at Cosmic Structure Shocks
We have calculated the evolution of cosmic ray (CR) modified astrophysical
shocks for a wide range of shock Mach numbers and shock speeds through
numerical simulations of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) in 1D quasi-
parallel plane shocks. The simulations include thermal leakage injection of
seed CRs, as well as pre-existing, upstream CR populations. Bohm-like diffusion
is assumed. We model shocks similar to those expected around cosmic structure
pancakes as well as other accretion shocks driven by flows with upstream gas
temperatures in the range K and shock Mach numbers spanning
. We show that CR modified shocks evolve to time-asymptotic states
by the time injected particles are accelerated to moderately relativistic
energies (p/mc \gsim 1), and that two shocks with the same Mach number, but
with different shock speeds, evolve qualitatively similarly when the results
are presented in terms of a characteristic diffusion length and diffusion time.
For these models the time asymptotic value for the CR acceleration efficiency
is controlled mainly by shock Mach number. The modeled high Mach number shocks
all evolve towards efficiencies %, regardless of the upstream CR
pressure. On the other hand, the upstream CR pressure increases the overall CR
energy in moderate strength shocks (). (abridged)Comment: 23 pages, 12 ps figures, accepted for Astrophysical Journal (Feb. 10,
2005
Shock Acceleration of Cosmic Rays - a critical review
Motivated by recent unsuccessful efforts to detect the predicted flux of TeV
gamma-rays from supernova remnants, we present a critical examination of the
theory on which these predictions are based. Three crucial problems are
identified: injection, maximum achievable particle energy and spectral index.
In each case significant new advances in understanding have been achieved,
which cast doubt on prevailing paradigms such as Bohm diffusion and
single-fluid MHD. This indicates that more realistic analytical models, backed
by more sophisticated numerical techniques should be employed to obtain
reliable predictions. Preliminary work on incorporating the effects of
anomalous transport suggest that the resulting spectrum should be significantly
softer than that predicted by conventional theory.Comment: 8 pages, invited review presented at the 17th ECRS, Lodz, July 2000;
to appear in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic
T Cell Activation Results in Conformational Changes in the Src Family Kinase Lck to Induce Its Activation
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Nonthermal Radiation from Type Ia Supernova Remnants
We present calculations of expected continuum emissions from Sedov-Taylor
phase Type Ia supernova remnants (SNRs), using the energy spectra of cosmic ray
(CR) electrons and protons from nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration (DSA)
simulations. A new, general-purpose radiative process code, Cosmicp, was
employed to calculate the radiation expected from CR electrons and protons and
their secondary products. These radio, X-ray and gamma-ray emissions are
generally consistent with current observations of Type Ia SNRs. The emissions
from electrons in these models dominate the radio through X-ray bands. Decays
of \pi^0 s from p-p collisions mostly dominate the gamma-ray range, although
for a hot, low density ISM case (n_{ISM}=0.003 cm^{-3}), the pion decay
contribution is reduced sufficiently to reveal the inverse Compton contribution
to TeV gamma-rays. In addition, we present simple scalings for the contributing
emission processes to allow a crude exploration of model parameter space,
enabling these results to be used more broadly. We also discuss the radial
surface brightness profiles expected for these model SNRs in the X-ray and
gamma-ray bands.Comment: 37 pages, 7 figures, accepted in MNRA
A Multi-Frequency Radio Study of Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8 and its Pulsar Wind Nebula
(Abridged) We present a detailed radio study of the young supernova remnant
(SNR) G292.0+1.8 and its associated pulsar PSR J1124-5916, using the Australia
Telescope Compact Array at observing wavelengths of 20, 13 and 6 cm. We find
that the radio morphology of the source consists of three main components: a
polarized flat-spectrum central core coincident with the pulsar J1124-5916, a
surrounding circular steep-spectrum plateau with sharp outer edges and,
superimposed on the plateau, a series of radial filaments with spectra
significantly flatter than their surroundings. HI absorption argues for a lower
limit on the distance to the system of 6 kpc.
The core clearly corresponds to radio emission from a pulsar wind nebula
powered by PSR J1124-5916, while the plateau represents the surrounding SNR
shell. The plateau's sharp outer rim delineates the SNR's forward shock, while
the thickness of the plateau region demonstrates that the forward and reverse
shocks are well-separated. Assuming a distance of 6 kpc and an age for the
source of 2500 yr, we infer an expansion velocity for the SNR of ~1200 km/s and
an ambient density ~0.9 cm^-3. We interpret the flat-spectrum radial filaments
superimposed on the steeper-spectrum plateau as Rayleigh-Taylor unstable
regions between the forward and reverse shocks of the SNR. The flat radio
spectrum seen for these features results from efficient second-order Fermi
acceleration in strongly amplified magnetic fields.Comment: 11 pages of text, plus 7 embedded EPS figures. Accepted to ApJ. Added
missing units on x-axis of Fig
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