The effect of energy amplification variance on the shock-acceleration

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Scientific paper

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12630.x

The shock-acceleration theory predicts a power-law energy spectrum in the test particle approximation, and there are two ways to calculate a power-law index, Peacock's approximation and Vietri's formulation. In Peacock's approximation, it is assumed that particles cross a shock front many times and energy-gains for each step are fully uncorrelated. On the other hand, correlation of the distribution of an energy-gain factor for a particle is considered in Vietri's formulation. We examine how Peacock's approximation differs from Vietri's formulation. It is useful to know when we can use Peacock's approximation because Peacock's approximation is simple to derive the power-law index. In addition, we focus on how the variance of the energy-gain factor has an influence on the difference between Vietri's formulation and Peacock's approximation. The effect of the variance has not been examined well until now. For demonstration, we consider two cases for the scattering in the upstream: the large-angle scattering (model A) and the regular deflection by large-scale magnetic fields (model B). Especially there is no correlation among the distribution of an energy-gain factor for every step in model A. In this model, we see the power-law index derived from Peacock's approximation differs from the one derived from Vietri's formulation when we consider the mildly-relativistic shock, and the variance of the energy-gain factor affects this difference. We can use Peacock's approximation for a non-relativistic shock and a highly-relativistic shock because the effect of the variance is hidden. In model B, we see the difference of the power-law converging along the shock velocity.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The effect of energy amplification variance on the shock-acceleration does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The effect of energy amplification variance on the shock-acceleration, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The effect of energy amplification variance on the shock-acceleration will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-297609

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.