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Title: INJECTION TO RAPID DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION AT PERPENDICULAR SHOCKS IN PARTIALLY IONIZED PLASMAS

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
 [1]
  1. Department of Physics and Mathematics, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Sagamihara 252-5258 (Japan)

We present a three-dimensional hybrid simulation of a collisionless perpendicular shock in a partially ionized plasma for the first time. In this simulation, the shock velocity and upstream ionization fraction are v {sub sh} ≈ 1333 km s{sup −1} and f {sub i} ∼ 0.5, which are typical values for isolated young supernova remnants (SNRs) in the interstellar medium. We confirm previous two-dimensional simulation results showing that downstream hydrogen atoms leak into the upstream region and are accelerated by the pickup process in the upstream region, and large magnetic field fluctuations are generated both in the upstream and downstream regions. In addition, we find that the magnetic field fluctuations have three-dimensional structures and the leaking hydrogen atoms are injected into the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) at the perpendicular shock after the pickup process. The observed DSA can be interpreted as shock drift acceleration with scattering. In this simulation, particles are accelerated to v ∼ 100 v {sub sh} ∼ 0.3 c within ∼100 gyroperiods. The acceleration timescale is faster than that of DSA in parallel shocks. Our simulation results suggest that SNRs can accelerate cosmic rays to 10{sup 15.5} eV (the knee) during the Sedov phase.

OSTI ID:
22679550
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 827, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English