The Magnetic Bootstrap

Conference · Wed Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · AIP Conf.Proc.921:62-64,2007

OSTI ID:917733

Blandford, Roger; Funk, Stefan

Recent observations with TeV telescopes strongly indicate that young supernova remnants are capable of accelerating cosmic ray protons almost to PeV energies. On quite general grounds, this, in turn, suggests that the magnetic field strength must be enhanced above the standard interstellar value by about two orders of magnitude. It is suggested that protons and electrons are accelerated through diffusive shock acceleration, with the highest energy protons streaming furthest ahead of the shock front. It is then shown that the pressure of the {approx} 300TeV protons dominates that of the ambient thermal particles and magnetic field and is likely to be sufficiently anisotropic to render the pre-shock fluid unstable to resonant and non-resonant instability. A new theory of the non-resonant instabilities is outlined. The nonlinear evolution of these instabilities requires careful numerical simulation but it is conjectured that the magnetic field is amplified in this location and provides the means for efficient acceleration of progressively lower energy particles as it is convected towards the subshock in the thermal plasma. Further possible implications of these ideas are sketched.

• Research Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 917733
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB-12873
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conf.Proc.921:62-64,2007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ACCELERATION
Astrophysics
ASTRO
ELECTRONS
INSTABILITY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PLASMA
PROTONS
SIMULATION
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
TELESCOPES