Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-02-04
AIP Conf. Proc. 745 (2005), 549
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
6 pages, 2 figures; typos corrected wrt to published version, Proc. of the "International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray A
Scientific paper
10.1063/1.1878461
The acceleration of energetic particles in astrophysical shear flows is analyzed. We show that in the presence of a non-relativistic gradual velocity shear, power law particle momentum distributions $f(p) \propto p^{-(3+\alpha)}$ may be generated, assuming a momentum-dependent scattering time $\tau \propto p^{\alpha}$, with $\alpha > 0$. We consider possible acceleration sites in astrophysical jets and study the conditions for efficient acceleration. It is shown, for example, that in the presence of a gradual shear flow and a gyro-dependent particle mean free path, synchrotron radiation losses no longer stop the acceleration once it has started to work efficiently. This suggests that shear acceleration may naturally account for a second, non-thermal population of energetic particles in addition to a shock-accelerated one. The possible relevance of shear acceleration is briefly discussed with reference to the relativistic jet in the quasar 3C 273.
Duffy Peter
Rieger Frank M.
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