Particle Acceleration in a Shock Wave Propagating to an Inhomogeneous Medium

We investigate effects of upstream density fluctuations on the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) by Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations show that particles are reaccelerated in the shock downstream region by a sound wave generated at the shock front. The timescale of turbulent acceleration by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 897; no. 1; pp. 50 - 55
Main Authors Yokoyama, Shota L., Ohira, Yutaka
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01.07.2020
IOP Publishing
Subjects
Astrophysics
Computer simulation
Cosmic rays
Density
Fluctuations
Inhomogeneous media
Monte Carlo simulation
Particle acceleration
Particle astrophysics
Shock wave propagation
Shock waves
Shocks
Sound waves
Supernova remnants
Upstream
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Summary:We investigate effects of upstream density fluctuations on the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) by Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations show that particles are reaccelerated in the shock downstream region by a sound wave generated at the shock front. The timescale of turbulent acceleration by the sound wave is estimated. We propose a new back reaction of particles accelerated around the shock front. The accelerated particles generate the upstream density fluctuations by the Drury instability, which are converted to the downstream sound waves by the shock. The downstream sound waves modify the momentum spectrum of particles accelerated around the shock front. This new back reaction affects emission from the accelerated particles, which gives a new constraint on the acceleration efficiency of the DSA.
Bibliography:AAS23878
High-Energy Phenomena and Fundamental Physics
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ab93c3