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Autori principali: Comisso, Luca, Farrar, Glennys R., Muzio, Marco S.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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Accesso online:https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.05546
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author Comisso, Luca
Farrar, Glennys R.
Muzio, Marco S.
author_facet Comisso, Luca
Farrar, Glennys R.
Muzio, Marco S.
contents Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), particles characterized by energies exceeding $10^{18}$ eV, are generally believed to be accelerated electromagnetically in high-energy astrophysical sources. One promising mechanism of UHECR acceleration is magnetized turbulence. We demonstrate from first principles, using fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, that magnetically dominated turbulence accelerates particles on a short timescale, producing a power-law energy distribution with a rigidity-dependent, sharply defined cutoff well approximated by the form $f_{\rm cut}\left({E, E_{\rm cut}}\right) = {\text{sech}}\left[ ( {{E}/{E_{\rm cut}}} )^2 \right]$. Particle escape from the turbulent accelerating region is energy-dependent, with $t_{\rm esc} \propto E^{-δ}$ and $δ\sim 1/3$. The resulting particle flux from the accelerator follows $dN/dEdt \propto E^{-s} {\text{sech}}\left[ ( {{E}/{E_{\rm cut}}} )^2 \right]$, with $s \sim 2.1$. We fit the Pierre Auger Observatory's spectrum and composition measurements, taking into account particle interactions between acceleration and detection, and show that the turbulence-associated energy cutoff is well supported by the data, with the best-fitting spectral index being $s = 2.1^{+0.06}_{-0.13}$. Our first-principles results indicate that particle acceleration by magnetically dominated turbulence may constitute the physical mechanism responsible for UHECR acceleration.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_05546
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays Accelerated by Magnetically Dominated Turbulence
Comisso, Luca
Farrar, Glennys R.
Muzio, Marco S.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Plasma Physics
Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), particles characterized by energies exceeding $10^{18}$ eV, are generally believed to be accelerated electromagnetically in high-energy astrophysical sources. One promising mechanism of UHECR acceleration is magnetized turbulence. We demonstrate from first principles, using fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations, that magnetically dominated turbulence accelerates particles on a short timescale, producing a power-law energy distribution with a rigidity-dependent, sharply defined cutoff well approximated by the form $f_{\rm cut}\left({E, E_{\rm cut}}\right) = {\text{sech}}\left[ ( {{E}/{E_{\rm cut}}} )^2 \right]$. Particle escape from the turbulent accelerating region is energy-dependent, with $t_{\rm esc} \propto E^{-δ}$ and $δ\sim 1/3$. The resulting particle flux from the accelerator follows $dN/dEdt \propto E^{-s} {\text{sech}}\left[ ( {{E}/{E_{\rm cut}}} )^2 \right]$, with $s \sim 2.1$. We fit the Pierre Auger Observatory's spectrum and composition measurements, taking into account particle interactions between acceleration and detection, and show that the turbulence-associated energy cutoff is well supported by the data, with the best-fitting spectral index being $s = 2.1^{+0.06}_{-0.13}$. Our first-principles results indicate that particle acceleration by magnetically dominated turbulence may constitute the physical mechanism responsible for UHECR acceleration.
title Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays Accelerated by Magnetically Dominated Turbulence
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.05546