Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Feb 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010head...11.2404r&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #11, #24.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.695
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Cosmic rays (CRs) accelerated in supernova remnant (SNR) shocks are though to produce significant magnetic field amplification (a factor of 100 in their downstream medium). This amplification is believed to be caused by plasma instabilities driven by CRs as they stream in front of the shocks. Using particle-in-cell plasma simulations, we investigate possible instabilities, considering arbitrary angles between the CR streaming and the magnetic field. In the limit of quasi-parallel propagation, we recover Bell's cosmic ray current-driven (CRCD) instability. In the quasi-perpendicular case we find a new instability, the perpendicular current-driven (PCD) instability, and elucidate its physical nature. The PCD instability is driven by CRs protruding into regions of pre-amplified transverse field, which is likely to occur near the shocks. We study the expected saturation mechanisms of these instabilities for the case of SNR shocks. We find that the maximum amplification factor of the PCD instability is 50 in the upstream medium of the shocks, which is 5 times larger than the one corresponding to the CRCD instability. This result shows that CR-driven instabilities would play an essential role in the magnetic amplification inferred from SNR shock observations.
Riquelme Mario A.
Spitkovsky Anatoly
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