BEAMING AND RAPID VARIABILITY OF HIGH-ENERGY RADIATION FROM RELATIVISTIC PAIR PLASMA RECONNECTION

被引：107

作者：

Cerutti, B. ^{[1
]}

Werner, G. R. ^{[1
]}

Uzdensky, D. A. ^{[1
]}

Begelman, M. C. ^{[2
,3
,4
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Colorado, Ctr Integrated Plasma Studies, Dept Phys, Boulder, CO 80309 USA

[2] Univ Colorado, JILA, Boulder, CO 80309 USA

[3] NIST, Boulder, CO 80309 USA

[4] Univ Colorado, Dept Astrophys & Planetary Sci, Boulder, CO 80309 USA

来源：

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS | 2012年 / 754卷 / 02期

基金：

美国国家科学基金会;

关键词：

acceleration of particles; galaxies: active; ISM: individual objects (Crab Nebula); magnetic reconnection; radiation mechanisms: non-thermal; GAMMA-RAY FLARES; CRAB-NEBULA; MAGNETIC RECONNECTION; PARTICLE-ACCELERATION; TERMINATION SHOCK; RADIO-SOURCES; PULSAR WIND; DISSIPATION; DISCOVERY; EMISSION;

D O I：

10.1088/2041-8205/754/2/L33

中图分类号：

P1 [天文学];

学科分类号：

0704 ;

摘要：

We report on the first study of the angular distribution of energetic particles and radiation generated in relativistic collisionless electron-positron pair plasma reconnection using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We discover a strong anisotropy of the particles accelerated by reconnection and the associated strong beaming of their radiation. The focusing of particles and radiation increases with their energy; in this sense, this "kinetic beaming" effect differs fundamentally from the relativistic Doppler beaming usually invoked in high-energy astrophysics, in which all photons are focused and boosted achromatically. We also present, for the first time, the modeling of the synchrotron emission as seen by an external observer during the reconnection process. The expected light curves comprise several bright symmetric sub-flares emitted by the energetic beam of particles sweeping across the line of sight intermittently, and exhibit super-fast time variability as short as about one-tenth of the system light-crossing time. The concentration of the energetic particles into compact regions inside magnetic islands and particle anisotropy explain the rapid variability. This radiative signature of reconnection can account for the brightness and variability of the gamma-ray flares in the Crab Nebula and in blazars.

引用

页数：6

共 29 条

[1] Gamma-Ray Flares from the Crab Nebula [J].

Abdo, A. A. ;

Ackermann, M. ;

Ajello, M. ;

Allafort, A. ;

Baldini, L. ;

Ballet, J. ;

Barbiellini, G. ;

Bastieri, D. ;

Bechtol, K. ;

Bellazzini, R. ;

Berenji, B. ;

Blandford, R. D. ;

Bloom, E. D. ;

Bonamente, E. ;

Borgland, A. W. ;

Bouvier, A. ;

Brandt, T. J. ;

Bregeon, J. ;

Brez, A. ;

Brigida, M. ;

Bruel, P. ;

Buehler, R. ;

Buson, S. ;

Caliandro, G. A. ;

Cameron, R. A. ;

Cannon, A. ;

Caraveo, P. A. ;

Casandjian, J. M. ;

Celik, O. ;

Charles, E. ;

Chekhtman, A. ;

Cheung, C. C. ;

Chiang, J. ;

Ciprini, S. ;

Claus, R. ;

Cohen-Tanugi, J. ;

Costamante, L. ;

Cutini, S. ;

D'Ammando, F. ;

Dermer, C. D. ;

de Angelis, A. ;

de Luca, A. ;

de Palma, F. ;

Digel, S. W. ;

do Couto e Silva, E. ;

Drell, P. S. ;

Drlica-Wagner, A. ;

Dubois, R. ;

Dumora, D. ;

Favuzzi, C. .

SCIENCE, 2011, 331 (6018) :739-742

[2] Variable very high energy γ-ray emission from Markarian 501 [J].

Albert, J. ;

Aliu, E. ;

Anderhub, H. ;

Antoranz, P. ;

Armada, A. ;

Baixeras, C. ;

Barrio, J. A. ;

Bartko, H. ;

Bastieri, D. ;

Becker, J. K. ;

Bednarek, W. ;

Berger, K. ;

Bigongiari, C. ;

Biland, A. ;

Bock, R. K. ;

Bordas, P. ;

Bosch-Ramon, V. ;

Bretz, T. ;

Britvitch, I. ;

Camara, M. ;

Carmona, E. ;

Chilingarian, A. ;

Coarasa, J. A. ;

Commichau, S. ;

Contreras, J. L. ;

Cortina, J. ;

Costado, M. T. ;

Curtef, V. ;

Danielyan, V. ;

Dazzi, F. ;

De Angelis, A. ;

Delgado, C. ;

de los Reyes, R. ;

De Lotto, B. ;

Domingo-Santamaria, E. ;

Dorner, D. ;

Doro, M. ;

Errando, M. ;

Fagiolini, M. ;

Ferenc, D. ;

Fernandez, E. ;

Firpo, R. ;

Flix, J. ;

Fonseca, M. V. ;

Font, L. ;

Fuchs, M. ;

Galante, N. ;

Garcia-Lopez, R. J. ;

Garczarczyk, M. ;

Gaug, M. .

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2007, 669 (02) :862-883

[3] MAGIC DISCOVERY OF VERY HIGH ENERGY EMISSION FROM THE FSRQ PKS 1222+21 [J].

Aleksic, J. ;

Antonelli, L. A. ;

Antoranz, P. ;

Backes, M. ;

Barrio, J. A. ;

Bastieri, D. ;

Becerra Gonzalez, J. ;

Bednarek, W. ;

Berdyugin, A. ;

Berger, K. ;

Bernardini, E. ;

Biland, A. ;

Blanch, O. ;

Bock, R. K. ;

Boller, A. ;

Bonnoli, G. ;

Tridon, D. Borla ;

Braun, I. ;

Bretz, T. ;

Canellas, A. ;

Carmona, E. ;

Carosi, A. ;

Colin, P. ;

Colombo, E. ;

Contreras, J. L. ;

Cortina, J. ;

Cossio, L. ;

Covino, S. ;

Dazzi, F. ;

De Angelis, A. ;

De Cea del Pozo, E. ;

De Lotto, B. ;

Delgado Mendez, C. ;

Diago Ortega, A. ;

Doert, M. ;

Dominguez, A. ;

Prester, D. Dominis ;

Dorner, D. ;

Doro, M. ;

Elsaesser, D. ;

Ferenc, D. ;

Fonseca, M. V. ;

Font, L. ;

Fruck, C. ;

Garcia Lopez, R. J. ;

Garczarczyk, M. ;

Garrido, D. ;

Giavitto, G. ;

Godinovic, N. ;

Hadasch, D. .

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, 2011, 730 (01)

[4] Twelve-hour spikes from the Crab Pevatron [J].

Balbo, M. ;

Walter, R. ;

Ferrigno, C. ;

Bordas, P. .

ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 2011, 527

[5] Implications of very rapid TeV variability in blazars [J].

Begelman, Mitchell C. ;

Fabian, Andrew C. ;

Rees, Martin J. .

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 2008, 384 (01) :L19-L23

[6] Fast collisionless reconnection in electron-positron plasmas [J].

Bessho, Naoki ;

Bhattacharjee, A. .

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS, 2007, 14 (05)

[7] FAST MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AND PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN RELATIVISTIC LOW-DENSITY ELECTRON-POSITRON PLASMAS WITHOUT GUIDE FIELD [J].

Bessho, Naoki ;

Bhattacharjee, A. .

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2012, 750 (02)

[8] BREMSSTRAHLUNG, SYNCHROTRON RADIATION, AND COMPTON SCATTERING OF HIGH-ENERGY ELECTRONS TRAVERSING DILUTE GASES [J].

BLUMENTHAL, GR ;

GOULD, RJ .

REVIEWS OF MODERN PHYSICS, 1970, 42 (02) :237-+

[9] GAMMA-RAY ACTIVITY IN THE CRAB NEBULA: THE EXCEPTIONAL FLARE OF 2011 APRIL [J].

Buehler, R. ;

Scargle, J. D. ;

Blandford, R. D. ;

Baldini, L. ;

Baring, M. G. ;

Belfiore, A. ;

Charles, E. ;

Chiang, J. ;

D'Ammando, F. ;

Dermer, C. D. ;

Funk, S. ;

Grove, J. E. ;

Harding, A. K. ;

Hays, E. ;

Kerr, M. ;

Massaro, F. ;

Mazziotta, M. N. ;

Romani, R. W. ;

Parkinson, P. M. Saz ;

Tennant, A. F. ;

Weisskopf, M. C. .

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2012, 749 (01)

[10] EXTREME PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN MAGNETIC RECONNECTION LAYERS: APPLICATION TO THE GAMMA-RAY FLARES IN THE CRAB NEBULA [J].

Cerutti, Benoit ;

Uzdensky, Dmitri A. ;

Begelman, Mitchell C. .

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2012, 746 (02)

← 1 2 3 →