1,266 research outputs found
Analytic Solutions for the Evolution of Radiative Supernova Remnants
We present the general analytic solution for the evolution of radiative
supernova remnants in a uniform interstellar medium, under thin-shell
approximation. This approximation is shown to be very accurate approach to this
task. For a given set of parameters, our solution closely matches the results
of numerical models, showing a transient in which the deceleration parameter
reaches a maximum value of 0.33, followed by a slow convergence to the
asymptotic value 2/7. Oort (1951) and McKee and Ostriker (1977) analytic
solutions are discussed, as special cases of the general solution we have
found.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Astronomy and Astrophysics, accepte
Cosmic Ray acceleration and Balmer emission from SNR 0509-67.5
Context: Observation of Balmer lines from the region around the forward shock
of supernova remnants may provide precious information on the shock dynamics
and on the efficiency of particle acceleration at the shock.
Aims: We calculate the Balmer line emission and the shape of the broad Balmer
line for parameter values suitable for SNR 0509-67.5, as a function of the
cosmic ray acceleration efficiency and of the level of thermal equilibration
between electrons and protons behind the shock. This calculation aims at using
the width of the broad Balmer line emission to infer the cosmic ray
acceleration efficiency in this remnant.
Methods: We use the recently developed non-linear theory of diffusive shock
acceleration in the presence of neutrals. The semi-analytical approach that we
developed includes a description of magnetic field amplification as due to
resonant streaming instability, the dynamical reaction of both accelerated
particles and turbulent magnetic field on the shock, and all channels of
interaction between neutral atoms and background plasma that change the shock
dynamics.
Results: We achieve a quantitative assessment of the CR acceleration
efficiency in SNR 0509-67.5 as a function of the shock velocity and different
levels of electron-proton thermalization in the shock region. If the shock
moves faster than ~4500 km/s, one can conclude that particle acceleration must
be taking place with efficiency of several tens of percent. For lower shock
velocity the evidence for particle acceleration becomes less clear because of
the uncertainty in the electron-ion equilibration downstream. We also discuss
the role of future measurements of the narrow Balmer line.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Broad Balmer line emission and cosmic ray acceleration efficiency in supernova remnant shocks
Balmer emission may be a powerful diagnostic tool to test the paradigm of
cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in young supernova remnant (SNR) shocks. The width
of the broad Balmer line is a direct indicator of the downstream plasma
temperature. In case of efficient particle acceleration an appreciable fraction
of the total kinetic energy of the plasma is channeled into CRs, therefore the
downstream temperature decreases and so does the broad Balmer line width. This
width also depends on the level of thermal equilibration between ions and
neutral hydrogen atoms in the downstream. Since in general in young SNR shocks
only a few charge exchange (CE) reactions occur before ionization,
equilibration between ions and neutrals is not reached, and a kinetic
description of the neutrals is required in order to properly compute Balmer
emission.
We provide a method for the calculation of Balmer emission using a
self-consistent description of the shock structure in the presence of neutrals
and CRs. We use a recently developed semi-analytical approach, where neutral
particles, ionized plasma, accelerated particles and magnetic fields are all
coupled together through the mass, momentum and energy flux conservation
equations. The distribution of neutrals is obtained from the full Boltzmann
equation in velocity space, coupled to Maxwellian ions through ionization and
CE processes. The computation is also improved with respect to previous work
thanks to a better approximation for the atomic interaction rates. We find that
for shock speeds >2500km/s the distribution of broad neutrals never approaches
a Maxwellian and its moments differ from those of the ionized component. These
differences reflect into a smaller FWHM than predicted in previous
calculations, where thermalization was assumed. The method presented here
provides a realistic estimate of particle acceleration efficiency in Balmer
dominated shocks.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Cosmic Ray acceleration and Balmer emission from RCW 86 (G315.4-2.3)
Context. Observation of Balmer lines from the region around the forward shock
of supernova remnants (SNR) may provide valuable information on the shock
dynamics and the efficiency of particle acceleration at the shock.
Aims. We calculated the Balmer line emission and the shape of the broad
Balmer line for parameter values suitable for SNR RCW 86 (G315.4-2.3) as a
function of the cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration efficiency and of the level of
thermal equilibration between electrons and protons behind the shock. This
calculation aims at using the width of the broad Balmer-line emission to infer
the CR acceleration efficiency in this remnant.
Methods. We used the recently developed nonlinear theory of diffusive
shock-acceleration in the presence of neutrals. The semianalytical approach we
developed includes a description of magnetic field amplification as due to
resonant streaming instability, the dynamical reaction of accelerated particles
and the turbulent magnetic field on the shock, and all channels of interaction
between neutral hydrogen atoms and background ions that are relevant for the
shock dynamics.
Results. We derive the CR acceleration efficiency in the SNR RCW 86 from the
Balmer emission. Since our calculation used recent measurements of the shock
proper motion, the results depend on the assumed distance to Earth. For a
distance of 2 kpc the measured width of the broad Balmer line is compatible
with the absence of CR acceleration. For a distance of 2.5 kpc, which is a
widely used value in current literature, a CR acceleration efficiency of 5-30%
is obtained, depending upon the electron-ion equilibration and the ionization
fraction upstream of the shock. By combining information on Balmer emission
with the measured value of the downstream electron temperature, we constrain
the CR acceleration efficiency to be ~20%.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A (minor changes to
match the published version
Modeling the effect of small-scale magnetic turbulence on the X-ray properties of Pulsar Wind Nebulae
Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) constitute an ideal astrophysical environment to
test our current understanding of relativistic plasma processes. It is well
known that magnetic fields play a crucial role in their dynamics and emission
properties. At present, one of the main issues concerns the level of magnetic
turbulence present in these systems, which in the absence of space resolved
X-ray polarization measures cannot be directly constrained. In this work we
investigate, for the first time using simulated synchrotron maps, the effect of
a small scale fluctuating component of the magnetic field on the emission
properties in X-ray. We illustrate how to include the effects of a turbulent
component in standard emission models for PWNe, and which consequences are
expected in terms of net emissivity and depolarization, showing that the X-ray
surface brightness maps can provide already some rough constraints. We then
apply our analysis to the Crab and Vela nebulae and, by comparing our model
with Chandra and Vela data, we found that the typical energies in the turbulent
component of the magnetic field are about 1.5 to 3 times the one in the ordered
field.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The Supernova Remnant G11.2-0.3 and its central Pulsar
The plerion inside the composite Supernova Remnant G11.2-0.3 appears to be
dominated by the magnetic field to an extent unprecedented among well known
cases. We discuss its evolution as determined by a central pulsar and the
interaction with the surrounding thermal remnant, which in turn interacts with
the ambient medium. We find that a plausible scenario exists, where all the
observations can be reproduced with rather typical values for the parameters of
the system; we also obtain the most likely period for the still undetected
pulsar.Comment: 10 pages, to be published on ApJ Letters. Formatted using AASTe
Modeling Nonaxisymmetric Bow Shocks: Solution Method and Exact Analytic Solutions
A new solution method is presented for steady-state, momentum-conserving,
non-axisymmetric bow shocks and colliding winds in the thin-shell limit. This
is a generalization of previous formulations to include a density gradient in
the pre-shock ambient medium, as well as anisotropy in the pre-shock wind. For
cases where the wind is unaccelerated, the formalism yields exact, analytic
solutions.
Solutions are presented for two bow shock cases: (1) that due to a star
moving supersonically with respect to an ambient medium with a density gradient
perpendicular to the stellar velocity, and (2) that due to a star with a
misaligned, axisymmetric wind moving in a uniform medium. It is also shown
under quite general circumstances that the total rate of energy thermalization
in the bow shock is independent of the details of the wind asymmetry, including
the orientation of the non-axisymmetric driving wind, provided the wind is
non-accelerating and point-symmetric. A typical feature of the solutions is
that the region near the standoff point is tilted, so that the star does not
lie along the bisector of a parabolic fit to the standoff region. The principal
use of this work is to infer the origin of bow shock asymmetries, whether due
to the wind or ambient medium, or both.Comment: 26 pages and 6 figures accepted to ap
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