Title: Particle Acceleration in Compact Objects
1Particle Acceleration in Compact Objects
- Demosthenes Kazanas
- NASA
- Goddard Space Flight Center
2- There is plenty of evidence for the presence of
particle acceleration in compact objects - High (and low) energy emission from pulsars.
- High (and low) energy emission from plerionic SN
remnants. - Emission from 109 1027 Hz in Active Galactic
Nuclei.
3- Outline
- Direct particle acceleration by electric fields
(in EM gaps). - Bulk acceleration of particles in MHD flows.
- Stochastic Acceleration (shocks, turbulence).
- Dynamic Effects of accelerated particles (effects
on accretion disks, outflows).
4The Seven Highest-Confidence Gamma-ray Pulsars
5Broad-band spectra
- Power peaked in g-rays
- No pulsed emission above 20 GeV
- Increase in hardness with age
- High-energy turnover
- Increase in hardness with age
- Thermal component appears in older pulsars
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8- Must distinguish between acceleration of
individual particles and acceleration in bulk. - These two are generally distinct processes,
however, there are cases in which they are
intimately related. - The most obvious evidence of the presence of
acceleration of particles is that of pulsars.
9Rotating Magnetic Field
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11Formation of an outflow
- The rotation of the highly conducting neutron
star crust generates enormous potential
differences over the surface - above the surface gt very large
outward-acting unbalanced electric stresses - A charged magnetosphere is spontaneously built up
in order to short-out the parallel component of
the electric field (Goldreich-Julian 1969)
12The density of charge carriers can be easily
estimated
- This density co-rotates with the pulsar out to
- the light cylinder. Beyond that the magnetic
- stresses cannot confine the plasma and must
- open-up, i.e. the dipole is not a valid
- magnetospheric solution
13The flux of the open field lines at thelight
cylinder defines the polar cap of thepulsar, as
the region of the last open field line
14The pulsar slow down can then be worked out in a
simple way. It does not require the pulsar to be
misaligned the same slow down works out for a
purely aligned magnetosphere.
15Surface Fields and Currents
16- The presence of a sufficiently dense plasma
- cancels all parallel E. Discrepancy between
- the actual charge density from that of GJ
- leads to gaps (Polar Cap Outer Gap models).
- Particles can be accelerated at gaps and lead to
- the creation of photons. The resulting spectra
- depend on the ensuing interactions (A. Harding)
- The EM potentials available are of order of
- 1018 (P/ms) B15 eV. As such they
- could produce galactic cosmic rays up to the
- energy of ankle (Arons 02).
17- The problem of pulsar magnetospheric
- emission, as is the case with all problems
- that involve magnetic fields (which cannot
- be shorted out) is a global one. One has to
- solve for the currents and the resulting
- magnetic fields over all space before we can
- decide the dynamics and radiation emission
- from a pulsar.
18- The magnetosphere is determined by the
- balance between the current and electro-
- static forces in the magnetosphere. These
- are given by the Pulsar Equation
19The parameters involved are
- Poloidal electric current
- Magnetic flux
- Force-free
- Space charge density
20Contopoulos, Kazanas Fendt 1999 Gruzinov 2005
21- The solution is smooth, contains a return
- Current, it contains a zero charge line and
- it provides the wind asymptotic structure.
- Emission is expected at places where MHD is
violated (polar cap, zero charge line, return
current boundary, but not the Light Cylinder).
22Pulsar Winds/The s-Problem
- For the geometry of the magnetic lines beyond
- the Light Cylinder (split monopole) for which
- Bp 1/R2, Bf 1/ R , r 1/R2.
- Therefore their ratio, s 106 near the LC should
- be independent of the radius R .
- However, the spectra of the Crab nebula need a
- value s 3 10-3 to fit the observed spectrum and
- for Vela one needs s 1.
23- The asymptotic (split) monopole geometry
- of CKF allows a crack at this problem
- The energy conservation equation along a field
- line has the form
- While the flux freezing condition reads
24- Under force-free conditions
- the energy equation reads
- Leading eventually to
- (Contopoulos DK 2002)
25- Under conditions of a monopole geometry the
Lorentz - factor of the flow increases linearly with
distance. This - happens as long as the effects of inertia are
negligible. - Beyond this point the field geometry should
deviate - From monopolar and possibly part of it collimate
and - part form an equatorial wind. The wind terminates
at a - shock which is responsible for the nebular
emission. - (The extent of monopole geometry is debatable.
It may - extend only up to the fast magnetosonic point
then the - maximum g will be only s1/3 ).
26Plerion Components
27Vlahakis Konigl 2001
- Linearly increase in Lorentz factor is a property
of general MHD flows of geometries different
from monopolar (VlahakisKonigl 2001)
28The MHD outflow acceleration and the s-Problem
are related issues. They demand the simultaneous
solution of the conservation equations along with
the transverse force balanc.e
- First axisymmetric wind
- solutions by Blandford
- Payne extended to
- Relativistic case by Li,
- Chieuh, Begelman (92)
- and Contopoulos (94).
- Solutions known only for
- self-similar geometry.
29- Flow acceleration
- depends on assumptions
- used. LCB find logarithmic
- acceleration with height.
- Contopoulos (94) finds final
- velocity similar to that at
- the accretion disk at the
- base of the flow (Vlahakis
- Konigl 04 for a more
- recent study).
30The relativistic outflows produce shocks, which
accelerate particles and lead to radiation
emission. Blazaremission is thought to be
derived this way.
- The apparently thin
- photon spectra indicate
- emission from large
- distances and suggests
- association with jet
- flows (Mastichiadis
- Kirk 1997).
31Particle acceleration (in shocks, converging
flows, turbulence) is the result of an interplay
between particle energy gains in scattering and
particle transport. The exponentially small
probability of undergoing N interactions with
the plasma before escape, coupled with
exponentially increasing energy with the number
of scatterings lead to power law distributions.
32The geometry of particle transport across a plane
shock. The upstream velocity is u1 and the
downstream u2u. The particle velocity is v. The
shaded region shows the fraction of particles
that make it upstream and have a chance to
accelerate.
33Generic description of the acceleration process.
Application to plane parallel shocks (r is the
compres- sion ratio, P(p) is the integral
spectrum).
34Effects of acceleration on dynamics
- The presence of relativistic particles
- can affect the dynamics of the flow
- Relativistic particles reduce the fluid
- adiabatic index and increase the shock
- compression ratio r. This hardens the
- spectra most kinetic energy is
- converted to relativistic particles that
- dominate the pressure.
- Particle (relativistic) escape from the
- system also increases the compression
- ratio of the shock with similar effect.
35- In the vicinity of a compact object, the strong
gravitational - field could separate the relativistic and the
non-relativistic - populations, provided that cooling does not
this can cause - outflows similar to those inferred in compact
objects (DK - Ellison 86) Subramanian et al (99), provided
that the - accelerated particles do not lose energy on time
scales shorter - than free-fall.
- Separation can also take place through the
production of - neutral particles (neutrons) that can increase
the power of - relativistic outflows (Contopoulos DK 94).
36Plasma production outside an Acc. Disk from n -gt
p e. For a large black hole, most neutron
produced protons are relativistic while for a
small one most are non-relativistic. The critical
value is M108 M_o
37The Radio Jets of GRS 1915105
38The Radio Jets of GRS 1915105
39The Radio Jets of GRS 1915105
40- Acceleration in Accretion Disks can
- result from particle-wave interactions
- (e.g. Dermer, Miller, Li 96). Acceler.
- Time scales are quite short and should
- Produce accelerated populations.
- Accretion Disks could accelerate
- particles by their shearing motion
- (Subramanian et al. 99). This leads
- to 2nd order acceleration.
41Slope and Maximum Energies
- The slope of accelerated population depends on
the interplay between energy gain per interaction
and escape probability (e.g. the Comptonization
parameter t kT/mc2). For shocks this is 3/(r-1)
(integral slope). - The acceleration rate is hap-pening on the
gyro-period at the given field E(eV)/B(G)
- Maximum energy is given by the balance between
accele-ration and losses or escape from the
system. For electrons this energy is TeV
(blazars), while for protons it gets close to
1020 eV. - Eventually, the max.energy is roughly R (v/c)
B, where R is the size of the system, v the
velocity and B the magnetic field.
42Conclusions - Questions
- Particle Acceleration is a ubiquitous process in
compact objects (spectra, superluminal motions). - Particles can get accelerated in EM gaps
(deviations from MHD conditions). Energy/particle
Potential drop across gap. - MHD acceleration in rotating magnetospheres.
Conversion of magnetic to kinetic energy of high
efficiency (depends on current distribution).
Lorentz factors of 10 106 possible. - Particle acceleration possible in turbulent,
shocked plasmas. Conversion of KE to relativistic
particles with high efficiency. Max. energy
depends on particulars of system. - Why dont we see prominent non-thermal emission
in the spectra of accreting binary sources? Why
are most AGN radio quiet? - Does acceleration take place in the Acc. Disks of
AGN, GBHC? If yes, do the accelerated particles
play any role in the dynamics of these disks? Are
observational tests to distinguish between these
possibilities?
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46The geometry of particle transport across a
shock. The upstream velocity is u1 and the
downstream u2u. The particle velocity is v. The
shaded region shows the fraction of particles
that make it upstream and have a chance to
accelerate.
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