Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21743403l&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #434.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
Many high energy astrophysical phenomena involve strongly magnetized relativistic outflows, from pulsar wind to gamma ray burst. How these objects efficiently convert their Poynting flux into energetic particles and radiation remains one of the outstanding unsolved problems in astrophysics (the "Sigma Problem"). Here we present Particle-in-Cell (PIC) kinetic simulations of direct Poynting flux conversion into particle energy in the context of pulsar equatorial stripe wind. We show how comoving ponderomotive (JxB) acceleration due to self-generated polarization-drift currents can efficiently convert electromagnetic energy into accelerated particles in an overdense but high a0 (= dimensionless vector potential) plasma. We study the dissipation rate as a function of Lorentz factor, magnetic field strength and orientation.
Work supported by NSF AST-0909167 and DOE-DE-SC-0001481.
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