DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Synchrotron self-Compton radiation from magnetically dominated turbulent plasmas in relativistic jets

Abstract

Relativistic jets launched by rotating black holes are powerful emitters of non-thermal radiation. Extraction of the rotational energy via electromagnetic stresses produces magnetically dominated jets, which may become turbulent. Studies of magnetically dominated plasma turbulence from first principles show that most of the accelerated particles have small pitch angles, i.e. the particle velocity is nearly aligned with the local magnetic field. We examine synchrotron self-Compton radiation from anisotropic particles in the fast cooling regime. The small pitch angles reduce the synchrotron cooling rate and promote the role of inverse Compton (IC) cooling, which can occur in two different regimes. In the Thomson regime, both synchrotron and IC components have soft spectra, νFν ∝ ν1/2. In the Klein–Nishina regime, synchrotron radiation has a hard spectrum, typically νFν ∝ ν, over a broad range of frequencies. Our results have implications for the modelling of BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BL Lacs produce soft synchrotron and IC spectra, as expected when Klein–Nishina effects are minor. The observed synchrotron and IC luminosities are typically comparable, which indicates a moderate anisotropy with pitch angles θ ≳ 0.1. Rare orphan gamma-ray flares may be produced when θ $$\ll$$ 0.1. The hard spectra of GRBs may be consistent with synchrotron radiation when the emitting particles are IC cooling in the Klein–Nishina regime, as expected for pitch angles θ ~ 0.1. Blazar and GRB spectra can be explained by turbulent jets with a similar electron plasma magnetization parameter, σe ~ 104, which for electron–proton plasmas corresponds to an overall magnetization σ = (me/mpe ~ 10.

Authors:
; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); Simons Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
OSTI Identifier:
1806215
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1852293
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0016542; PHY-1903412; 80NSSC18K1104; 2009453; 446228
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Volume: 506 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; astronomy & astrophysics; plasmas; radiation mechanisms; non-thermal; turbulence; BL Lacertae objects; gamma-ray bursts

Citation Formats

Sobacchi, Emanuele, Sironi, Lorenzo, and Beloborodov, Andrei M. Synchrotron self-Compton radiation from magnetically dominated turbulent plasmas in relativistic jets. United Kingdom: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1093/mnras/stab1702.
Sobacchi, Emanuele, Sironi, Lorenzo, & Beloborodov, Andrei M. Synchrotron self-Compton radiation from magnetically dominated turbulent plasmas in relativistic jets. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1702
Sobacchi, Emanuele, Sironi, Lorenzo, and Beloborodov, Andrei M. Mon . "Synchrotron self-Compton radiation from magnetically dominated turbulent plasmas in relativistic jets". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1702.
@article{osti_1806215,
title = {Synchrotron self-Compton radiation from magnetically dominated turbulent plasmas in relativistic jets},
author = {Sobacchi, Emanuele and Sironi, Lorenzo and Beloborodov, Andrei M.},
abstractNote = {Relativistic jets launched by rotating black holes are powerful emitters of non-thermal radiation. Extraction of the rotational energy via electromagnetic stresses produces magnetically dominated jets, which may become turbulent. Studies of magnetically dominated plasma turbulence from first principles show that most of the accelerated particles have small pitch angles, i.e. the particle velocity is nearly aligned with the local magnetic field. We examine synchrotron self-Compton radiation from anisotropic particles in the fast cooling regime. The small pitch angles reduce the synchrotron cooling rate and promote the role of inverse Compton (IC) cooling, which can occur in two different regimes. In the Thomson regime, both synchrotron and IC components have soft spectra, νFν ∝ ν1/2. In the Klein–Nishina regime, synchrotron radiation has a hard spectrum, typically νFν ∝ ν, over a broad range of frequencies. Our results have implications for the modelling of BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BL Lacs produce soft synchrotron and IC spectra, as expected when Klein–Nishina effects are minor. The observed synchrotron and IC luminosities are typically comparable, which indicates a moderate anisotropy with pitch angles θ ≳ 0.1. Rare orphan gamma-ray flares may be produced when θ $\ll$ 0.1. The hard spectra of GRBs may be consistent with synchrotron radiation when the emitting particles are IC cooling in the Klein–Nishina regime, as expected for pitch angles θ ~ 0.1. Blazar and GRB spectra can be explained by turbulent jets with a similar electron plasma magnetization parameter, σe ~ 104, which for electron–proton plasmas corresponds to an overall magnetization σ = (me/mp)σe ~ 10.},
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stab1702},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
number = 1,
volume = 506,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Mon Jun 14 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Mon Jun 14 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1702

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Physical parameters and emission mechanism in gamma-ray bursts
journal, June 2001

  • Derishev, E. V.; Kocharovsky, V. V.; Kocharovsky, Vl. V.
  • Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 372, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20010586

Canonical high-power blazars
journal, August 2009


Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei
journal, June 1995

  • Urry, C. Megan; Padovani, Paolo
  • Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 107
  • DOI: 10.1086/133630

Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Plasma Turbulence
journal, December 2018


Polarization of Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Dissipative Photosphere Model
journal, April 2018

  • Lundman, Christoffer; Vurm, Indrek; Beloborodov, Andrei M.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 856, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aab3e8

Kinetic turbulence in shining pair plasma: intermittent beaming and thermalization by radiative cooling
journal, January 2020

  • Zhdankin, Vladimir; Uzdensky, Dmitri A.; Werner, Gregory R.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 493, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa284

Linear polarization in gamma-ray burst prompt emission
journal, October 2019

  • Gill, Ramandeep; Granot, Jonathan; Kumar, Pawan
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz2976

Gamma-ray bursts in the comoving frame: Gamma-ray bursts in the comoving frame
journal, December 2011


On the magnetization of BL Lac jets
journal, December 2015

  • Tavecchio, F.; Ghisellini, G.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 456, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv2790

Prompt high-energy emission from gamma-ray bursts in the internal shock model
journal, March 2009


Klein–Nishina Effects on Optically thin Synchrotron and Synchrotron Self-Compton Spectrum
journal, August 2009


The Complete Spectral Catalog of Bright BATSE Gamma‐Ray Bursts
journal, September 2006

  • Kaneko, Yuki; Preece, Robert D.; Briggs, Michael S.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 166, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/505911

Reconciling observed gamma-ray burst prompt spectra with synchrotron radiation?
journal, January 2011


The BATSE Gamma‐Ray Burst Spectral Catalog. I. High Time Resolution Spectroscopy of Bright Bursts Using High Energy Resolution Data
journal, January 2000

  • Preece, R. D.; Briggs, M. S.; Mallozzi, R. S.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 126, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/313289

Electron and Proton Acceleration in Trans-relativistic Magnetic Reconnection: Dependence on Plasma Beta and Magnetization
journal, July 2018

  • Ball, David; Sironi, Lorenzo; Özel, Feryal
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 862, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aac820

Synchrotron Radiation as the Source of Gamma‐Ray Burst Spectra
journal, November 2000

  • Lloyd, Nicole M.; Petrosian, Vahe
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 543, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/317125

A jet model for the gamma-ray emitting blazar 3C 279
journal, September 1992

  • Maraschi, L.; Ghisellini, G.; Celotti, A.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 397
  • DOI: 10.1086/186531

Evidence of two spectral breaks in the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts
journal, May 2019


The width of gamma-ray burst spectra
journal, January 2015

  • Axelsson, Magnus; Borgonovo, Luis
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 447, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu2675

The emission mechanism in magnetically dominated gamma-ray burst outflows
journal, October 2014

  • Beniamini, Paz; Piran, Tsvi
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 445, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu2032

Relativistic Jets from Active Galactic Nuclei
journal, August 2019


Efficient generation of jets from magnetically arrested accretion on a rapidly spinning black hole: Jets from magnetically arrested BH accretion
journal, November 2011

  • Tchekhovskoy, Alexander; Narayan, Ramesh; McKinney, Jonathan C.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 418, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2011.01147.x

Toward a theory of interstellar turbulence. 2: Strong alfvenic turbulence
journal, January 1995

  • Goldreich, P.; Sridhar, S.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 438
  • DOI: 10.1086/175121

A Universal Scaling for the Energetics of Relativistic Jets from Black Hole Systems
journal, December 2012


Time-varying Polarized Gamma-Rays from GRB 160821A: Evidence for Ordered Magnetic Fields
journal, September 2019

  • Sharma, Vidushi; Iyyani, Shabnam; Bhattacharya, Dipankar
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 882, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab3a48

Particle Acceleration in Kink-unstable Jets
journal, June 2020

  • Davelaar, Jordy; Philippov, Alexander A.; Bromberg, Omer
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 896, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab95a2

Interpreting the Behavior of Time‐resolved Gamma‐Ray Burst Spectra
journal, January 2002

  • Lloyd‐Ronning, Nicole M.; Petrosian, Vahe
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 565, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/324484

System-size Convergence of Nonthermal Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Plasma Turbulence
journal, October 2018

  • Zhdankin, Vladimir; Uzdensky, Dmitri A.; Werner, Gregory R.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 867, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aae88c

The NuSTAR view on hard-TeV BL Lacs
journal, May 2018

  • Costamante, L.; Bonnoli, G.; Tavecchio, F.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 477, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty857

Lower Limits on Lorentz Factors in Gamma‐Ray Bursts
journal, July 2001

  • Lithwick, Yoram; Sari, Re’em
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 555, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/321455

Magnetic energy dissipation and origin of non-thermal spectra in radiatively efficient relativistic sources
journal, November 2019

  • Sobacchi, E.; Lyubarsky, Y. E.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 491, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz3313

The Fermi blazar sequence
journal, April 2017

  • Ghisellini, G.; Righi, C.; Costamante, L.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 469, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx806

Mojave: Monitoring of jets in Active Galactic Nuclei with vlba Experiments. vi. Kinematics Analysis of a Complete Sample of Blazar jets
journal, November 2009


Prompt optical emission as a signature of synchrotron radiation in gamma-ray bursts
journal, August 2019


The Interplay of Magnetically Dominated Turbulence and Magnetic Reconnection in Producing Nonthermal Particles
journal, November 2019


Relativistic Magnetic Reconnection in Electron–Positron–Proton Plasmas: Implications for Jets of Active Galactic Nuclei
journal, July 2019

  • Petropoulou, Maria; Sironi, Lorenzo; Spitkovsky, Anatoly
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 880, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab287a

Reconnection-driven Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Shear Flows
journal, February 2021

  • Sironi, Lorenzo; Rowan, Michael E.; Narayan, Ramesh
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 907, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/abd9bc

The sharpness of gamma-ray burst prompt emission spectra
journal, November 2015


TeV BL Lac objects at the dawn of the Fermi era
journal, January 2010


Progress in unveiling extreme particle acceleration in persistent astrophysical jets
journal, January 2020


AstroSat-CZTI Detection of Variable Prompt Emission Polarization in GRB 171010A
journal, March 2019

  • Chand, Vikas; Chattopadhyay, Tanmoy; Oganesyan, Gor
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 874, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab0826

The physics of gamma-ray bursts & relativistic jets
journal, February 2015


Magnetohydrodynamics in the extreme relativistic limit
journal, March 1998


Marginally fast cooling synchrotron models for prompt GRBs
journal, February 2018

  • Beniamini, Paz; Barniol Duran, Rodolfo; Giannios, Dimitrios
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 476, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty340

The electromagnetic model of gamma-ray bursts
journal, July 2006


Are there cosmological evolution trends on gamma-ray burst features?
journal, November 2003


A unifying view of the spectral energy distributions of blazars
journal, September 1998


Constraining Emission Models of Luminous Blazar Sources
journal, September 2009


Kinematics of the jet in M 87 on scales of 100–1000 Schwarzschild radii
journal, October 2016


The Internal-Collision-Induced Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (Icmart) Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts
journal, December 2010


On the Origin of the Cosmic Radiation
journal, April 1949


Detection of Gamma-Ray Polarization in Prompt Emission of grb 100826a
journal, November 2011


Magnetic Structures in Gamma-Ray Burst jets Probed by Gamma-Ray Polarization
journal, September 2012

  • Yonetoku, Daisuke; Murakami, Toshio; Gunji, Shuichi
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 758, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/758/1/L1

Comptonization of diffuse ambient radiation by a relativistic jet: The source of gamma rays from blazars?
journal, January 1994

  • Sikora, Marek; Begelman, Mitchell C.; Rees, Martin J.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 421
  • DOI: 10.1086/173633

Constraints on the Physical Parameters of TeV Blazars
journal, December 1998

  • Tavecchio, Fabrizio; Maraschi, Laura; Ghisellini, Gabriele
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 509, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/306526

Anisotropic electron populations in BL Lac jets: consequences for the observed emission
journal, November 2019

  • Tavecchio, F.; Sobacchi, E.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz3168

Regulation of the Spectral peak in Gamma-Ray Bursts
journal, February 2013


Detailed polarization measurements of the prompt emission of five gamma-ray bursts
journal, January 2019


Gamma-ray bursts as cool synchrotron sources
journal, October 2019


Electromagnetic extraction of energy from Kerr black holes
journal, July 1977

  • Blandford, R. D.; Znajek, R. L.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 179, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/179.3.433

Time-resolved GRB polarization with POLAR and GBM: Simultaneous spectral and polarization analysis with synchrotron emission
journal, July 2019


The POLAR gamma-ray burst polarization catalog
journal, December 2020


A Multiwavelength View of the TeV Blazar Markarian 421: Correlated Variability, Flaring, and Spectral Evolution
journal, September 2005

  • Błażejowski, M.; Blaylock, G.; Bond, I. H.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 630, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/431925

Magnetic acceleration of relativistic active galactic nucleus jets: Magnetic acceleration of AGN jets
journal, July 2007

  • Komissarov, Serguei S.; Barkov, Maxim V.; Vlahakis, Nektarios
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 380, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12050.x

On the magnetization and the radiative efficiency of BL Lac jets
journal, January 2019

  • Sobacchi, E.; Lyubarsky, Y. E.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 484, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz044

Hard Synchrotron Spectra from Magnetically Dominated Plasma Turbulence
journal, June 2020

  • Comisso, Luca; Sobacchi, Emanuele; Sironi, Lorenzo
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 895, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab93dc

Characterization of gamma-ray burst prompt emission spectra down to soft X-rays
journal, August 2018


The Synchrotron Shock Model Confronts a “Line of Death” in the BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Data
journal, October 1998

  • Preece, R. D.; Briggs, M. S.; Mallozzi, R. S.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 506, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/311644

Spectral properties of 438 GRBs detected by Fermi /GBM
journal, April 2011


Consistency with synchrotron emission in the bright GRB 160625B observed by Fermi
journal, May 2018


A fully kinetic model for orphan gamma-ray flares in blazars
journal, February 2021

  • Sobacchi, Emanuele; Nättilä, Joonas; Sironi, Lorenzo
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 503, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab562

Kinetic Turbulence in Relativistic Plasma: From Thermal Bath to Nonthermal Continuum
journal, February 2017


Photospheric Emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts
journal, March 2017


Non-thermal pair production in compact X-ray sources: first-order Compton cascades in soft radiation fields
journal, July 1987


BATSE observations of gamma-ray burst spectra. I - Spectral diversity
journal, August 1993

  • Band, D.; Matteson, J.; Ford, L.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 413
  • DOI: 10.1086/172995

Detection of Low-energy Breaks in Gamma-Ray Burst Prompt Emission Spectra
journal, September 2017

  • Oganesyan, Gor; Nava, Lara; Ghirlanda, Giancarlo
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 846, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa831e

The stratified two-sided jet of Cygnus A: Acceleration and collimation
journal, December 2015


TeV variability in blazars: how fast can it be?
journal, February 2009


Non-thermal particle acceleration in collisionless relativistic electron–proton reconnection
journal, September 2017

  • Werner, G. R.; Uzdensky, D. A.; Begelman, M. C.
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 473, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx2530

Prompt Emission Polarimetry of Gamma-Ray Bursts with the AstroSat CZT Imager
journal, October 2019

  • Chattopadhyay, Tanmoy; Vadawale, Santosh V.; Aarthy, E.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 884, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab40b7

Multiwavelength Observations of Strong Flares from the TeV Blazar 1ES 1959+650
journal, January 2004

  • Krawczynski, H.; Hughes, S. B.; Horan, D.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 601, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/380393

Doppler factors, Lorentz factors and viewing angles for quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies
journal, November 2008


Klein-Nishina effects in the spectra of non-thermal sources immersed in external radiation fields
journal, November 2005


Identification and Properties of the Photospheric Emission in Grb090902b
journal, January 2010


Is spectral width a reliable measure of GRB emission physics?
journal, September 2019


Gamma‐Ray Burst Formation Rate Inferred from the Spectral Peak Energy–Peak Luminosity Relation
journal, July 2004

  • Yonetoku, D.; Murakami, T.; Nakamura, T.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 609, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1086/421285

The physics of gamma-ray bursts
journal, January 2005


On the Synchrotron Spectrum of GRB Prompt Emission
journal, January 2018


THE FERMI GBM GAMMA-RAY BURST SPECTRAL CATALOG: FOUR YEARS OF DATA
journal, February 2014

  • Gruber, David; Goldstein, Adam; von Ahlefeld, Victoria Weller
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 211, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/211/1/12