Rapid cosmic-ray acceleration at perpendicular shocks in supernova remnants

Abstract

Perpendicular shocks are shown to be rapid particle accelerators that perform optimally when the ratio $u_{\rm s}$ of the shock speed to the particle speed roughly equals the ratio $1/\eta$ of the scattering rate to the gyro frequency. We use analytical methods and Monte-Carlo simulations to solve the kinetic equation that governs the anisotropy generated at these shocks, and find, for $\eta u_{\rm s}\approx1$, that the spectral index softens by unity and the acceleration time increases by a factor of two compared to the standard result of diffusive shock acceleration theory. These results provide a theoretical basis for the thirty-year-old conjecture that a supernova exploding into the wind of a Wolf-Rayet star may accelerate protons to an energy exceeding $10^{15}\,$eV.