2019MNRAS.482.5268Z -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 482, 5268-5274 (2019/February-1)
Global constraints on diffusive particle acceleration by strong non-relativistic shocks.
ZHANG Y. and LIU S.
Abstract (from CDS):
Estimating the cosmic-ray acceleration efficiency ε in supernova remnants (SNRs) through observations is a challenging task in general. Based on the Rankine-Hugoniot shock conditions, we find an anticorrelation between ε and the power-law spectral index α of relativistic particle distribution produced via diffusive particle acceleration by non-relativistic shocks, implying more efficient acceleration in older SNRs with harder radio spectra. Then ε may be estimated from some hard radio spectral index measurements. Assuming the particle distribution in downstream of strong shocks to be a non-relativistic Maxwellian plus a relativistic power law with a high-energy cut-off, we also find that the injection rate for relativistic particles η needs to >=10–6 for a prominent decrease of the adiabatic index in SNRs, which implies higher compression ratio and lower values of α. This threshold of η increases with the shock speed u1, which may explain the relatively harder radio spectra of older SNRs with lower u1. We show that η and/or the relativistic cut-off momentum pm need to be low for old SNRs, and expect a gradual increase of ε as SNR evolves with gradually decreasing η and pm.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
acceleration of particles - shock waves - cosmic rays - ISM: supernova remnants
Simbad objects:
9
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