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Simultaneous Measurement of Turbulence and Particle Kinematics Using Flow Imaging Techniques
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Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Plasma Turbulence
Luca Comisso1, Lorenzo Sironi1
1Department of Astronomy and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|January 5, 2019
Summary
Relativistic turbulence in pair plasmas generates nonthermal particles with a power-law energy spectrum. Particle acceleration occurs at current sheets and through turbulent interactions, with spectrum properties depending on magnetization and turbulence levels.
Area of Science:
- Plasma Physics
- Astrophysics
- High-Energy Emission
Background:
- Turbulence is frequently proposed as the source of nonthermal particles in high-energy astrophysical phenomena.
- Understanding particle acceleration mechanisms is crucial for explaining observed cosmic emissions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of decaying turbulence in relativistic pair plasmas.
- To determine how turbulence influences particle energy spectra and acceleration.
Main Methods:
- Utilized particle-in-cell simulations to model decaying turbulence in magnetically dominated pair plasmas.
- Tracked a large sample of particles to analyze their injection and acceleration processes.
Main Results:
- Confirmed that relativistic turbulence generically produces power-law particle energy spectra.
- Observed that harder power-law slopes correlate with higher magnetization and stronger turbulence.
- Found that spectral cutoff scales linearly with system size, independent of dimensionality.
Conclusions:
- Relativistic turbulence is a key mechanism for generating nonthermal particles in astrophysical sources.
- Particle injection occurs at reconnecting current sheets, followed by stochastic acceleration.
- The properties of the resulting particle spectra are sensitive to plasma and turbulence parameters.
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