Impact of Cosmic Ray Acceleration on the Early Evolution of Bow Shocks around Massive Runaway Stars

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Watanabe, Keito, Walch, Stefanie, Rathjen, Tim-Eric, Mackey, Jonathan, Nürnberger, Pierre, Girichidis, Philipp
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866908591300018176
author Watanabe, Keito
Walch, Stefanie
Rathjen, Tim-Eric
Mackey, Jonathan
Nürnberger, Pierre
Girichidis, Philipp
author_facet Watanabe, Keito
Walch, Stefanie
Rathjen, Tim-Eric
Mackey, Jonathan
Nürnberger, Pierre
Girichidis, Philipp
contents Bow shocks generated from the interaction of winds from massive runaway stars with the interstellar medium have been shown to be prominent particle accelerators through recent $γ$-ray and radio synchrotron observations. Here, we study particle acceleration from bow shocks by conducting 3D ideal cosmic ray magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the advection-diffusion limit. We use the Eulerian grid-based code FLASH, where stellar winds are injected through tabulated wind velocities and mass loss rates. We implement a gradient-based shock detection algorithm to resolve the shocked regions where the CRs are injected dynamically. Simulations are performed for different values of the CR diffusion coefficient and star velocities within an ISM-like environment up to 180 kyr to showcase the impact of dynamical CR injection on the early evolution of the wind-driven bow shock. With a simplified spectral model in post-processing, we calculate the expected upper limits of $γ$-ray and synchrotron emission and compare with those from current observations. We observe that variations of CR diffusion rates can strongly dictate the morphology of the bow shock and the overall $γ$-ray and radio synchrotron luminosity due to the balance between the CR injection efficiency and diffusion. Our results yield qualitatively comparable results with current observations, primarily attributed to the high-energy protons and electrons contributing to non-thermal emission from efficient acceleration at the forward shock through the approximations and assumptions in the injection algorithm. We conclude that CR acceleration, with varying CR diffusion rates, may substantially affect the morphology of wind-driven bow shocks and their non-thermal emission, if there is efficient particle acceleration in the forward shock. [abridged]
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_11988
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Impact of Cosmic Ray Acceleration on the Early Evolution of Bow Shocks around Massive Runaway Stars
Watanabe, Keito
Walch, Stefanie
Rathjen, Tim-Eric
Mackey, Jonathan
Nürnberger, Pierre
Girichidis, Philipp
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Bow shocks generated from the interaction of winds from massive runaway stars with the interstellar medium have been shown to be prominent particle accelerators through recent $γ$-ray and radio synchrotron observations. Here, we study particle acceleration from bow shocks by conducting 3D ideal cosmic ray magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the advection-diffusion limit. We use the Eulerian grid-based code FLASH, where stellar winds are injected through tabulated wind velocities and mass loss rates. We implement a gradient-based shock detection algorithm to resolve the shocked regions where the CRs are injected dynamically. Simulations are performed for different values of the CR diffusion coefficient and star velocities within an ISM-like environment up to 180 kyr to showcase the impact of dynamical CR injection on the early evolution of the wind-driven bow shock. With a simplified spectral model in post-processing, we calculate the expected upper limits of $γ$-ray and synchrotron emission and compare with those from current observations. We observe that variations of CR diffusion rates can strongly dictate the morphology of the bow shock and the overall $γ$-ray and radio synchrotron luminosity due to the balance between the CR injection efficiency and diffusion. Our results yield qualitatively comparable results with current observations, primarily attributed to the high-energy protons and electrons contributing to non-thermal emission from efficient acceleration at the forward shock through the approximations and assumptions in the injection algorithm. We conclude that CR acceleration, with varying CR diffusion rates, may substantially affect the morphology of wind-driven bow shocks and their non-thermal emission, if there is efficient particle acceleration in the forward shock. [abridged]
title Impact of Cosmic Ray Acceleration on the Early Evolution of Bow Shocks around Massive Runaway Stars
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11988