arXiv subjects

Elena Amato

Publications and source records attributed to Elena Amato.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

On the cosmic ray spectrum from type II Supernovae

One of the most important challenges for the largely accepted idea that Galactic CRs are accelerated in SNR shocks is the maximum energy at which particles can be accelerated. The resonant streaming instability, long invoked for magnetic field amplification at shocks, can not provide sufficiently high fields and efficient enough scattering so as to ensure particle acceleration up to the knee. Here we discuss the non-resonant version of this instability which, with its faster growth and larger value of the amplified field, increases the achievable maximum energy. Because of their higher explosion rate, we focus on type II SNe expanding in their red supergiant wind and we find that the transition between Ejecta Dominated (ED) and Sedov-Taylor (ST) phases takes place at very early times. In this environment, the accelerated particle spectrum shows no high energy exponential cut-off but a spectral break at the maximum energy (EM). Moreover, the maximum energy of protons can easily reach PeV energies. With this model, we tried to fit KASCADE Grande and ARGO -YBJ data but failed to find a parameter combination that can explain both data sets. We discuss the different scenarios implied by the two data sets.

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arXiv2015

The fate of ultrahigh energy nuclei in the immediate environment of young fast-rotating pulsars

Young, fast-rotating neutron stars are promising candidate sources for the production of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The interest in this model has recently been boosted by the latest chemical composition measurements of cosmic rays, that seem to show the presence of a heavy nuclear component at the highest energies. Neutrons stars, with their metal-rich surfaces, are potentially interesting sources of such nuclei, but some open issues remain: 1) is it possible to extract these nuclei from the star's surface? 2) Do the nuclei survive the severe conditions present in the magnetosphere of the neutron star? 3) What happens to the surviving nuclei once they enter the wind that is launched outside the light cylinder? In this paper we address these issues in a quantitative way, proving that for the most reasonable range of neutron star surface temperatures ($T<10^7\,$K), a large fraction of heavy nuclei survive photo-disintegration losses. These processes, together with curvature losses and acceleration in the star's electric potential, lead to injection of nuclei with a chemical composition that is mixed, even if only iron is extracted from the surface. We show that under certain conditions the chemical composition injected into the wind region is compatible with that required in previous work based on purely phenomenological arguments (typically $\sim 50\%$ protons, $\sim 30\%$ CNO and $\sim 20\%$ Fe), and provides a reasonable explanation of the mass abundance inferred from ultra high energy data.

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arXiv2015

On the cosmic ray spectrum from type II Supernovae expanding in their red giant presupernova wind

While from the energetic point of view SNRs are viable sources of Galactic CRs, the issue of whether they can accelerate protons up to PeV remains unsolved. Here we discuss particle acceleration at the forward shock of SN and discuss the possibility that the escaping particle current may excite a non-resonant instability that in turn leads to the formation of resonant modes confining particles close to the shock and increasing the maximum energy. This mechanism works throughout the expansion of the SN explosion, from the ejecta dominated (ED) to the Sedov-Taylor (ST) phase. Because of their higher explosion rate,we focus on type II SNae expanding in the slow, dense red supergiant wind. When the explosion occurs in such winds, the transition between the ED and the ST phase is likely to take place within a few tens of years. As a result, the spectrum of accelerated particles shows a break in the slope, at the maximum energy (Em) achieved at the beginning of the ST phase. Above this energy, the spectrum becomes steeper but remains a power law than developing an exponential cutoff. We show that for type II SNae typical parameters, proton Em can easily reach PeV energies, confirming that type II SNRs are the best candidate sources for CRs at the knee. We have tried to fit KASCADE-Grande, ARGO -YBJ and YAC1-Tibet Array data with our model but we could not find any parameter combination that could explain all data sets. Indeed the recent measurement of the proton and helium spectra in the knee region, with the ARGO-YBJ and YAC1-Tibet Array, has made the situation very confused. These measurements suggest that the knee in the light component is at 650 TeV, appreciably below the overall spectrum knee. This finding would resolve the problem of reaching very high energies in SNae, but, on the other hand, it would open a critical issue in the transition region between Galactic and extragalactic CRs.

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arXiv2015

Particle Acceleration in Astrophysical Sources

Astrophysical sources are extremely efficient accelerators. Some sources emit photons up to multi-TeV energies, a signature of the presence, within them, of particles with energies much higher than those achievable with the largest accelerators on Earth. Even more compelling evidence comes from the study of Cosmic Rays, charged relativistic particles that reach the Earth with incredibly high energies: at the highest energy end of their spectrum, these subatomic particles are carrying a macroscopic energy, up to a few Joules. Here I will address the best candidate sources and mechanisms as cosmic particle accelerators. I will mainly focus on Galactic sources such as Supernova Remnants and Pulsar Wind Nebulae, which being close and bright, are the best studied among astrophysical accelerators. These sources are held responsible for most of the energy that is put in relativistic particles in the Universe, but they are not thought to accelerate particles up to the highest individual energies, $\approx 10^{20}$ eV. However they allow us to study in great detail acceleration mechanisms such as shock acceleration (both in the newtonian and relativistic regime) or magnetic reconnection, the same processes that are likely to be operating also in more powerful sources.

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arXiv2015

Particle acceleration and radiation in Pulsar Wind Nebulae

Pulsar Wind Nebulae are the astrophysical sources that host the most relativistic shocks in Nature and the only Galactic sources in which we have direct evidence of PeV particles. These facts make them very interesting from the point of view of particle acceleration physics, and their proximity and brightness make them a place where fundamental processes common to different classes of relativistic sources have a better chance to be understood. I will discuss how well we understand the physics of Pulsar Wind Nebulae, describing recent progress and highlighting the main open questions. I will be mostly concerned with the subject of particle acceleration, but, as we will see, in order to clarify the physics of this process, it is important to determine the conditions of the plasma in the nebula. These in turn can only be constrained through detailed modelling of the PWN dynamics and radiation. The shock in the Crab Nebula is probably the most efficient accelerator known, both in terms of conversion of the flow energy into accelerated particles (tens of percent) and in terms of maximum energy achieved ($\approx 10^{15}$ eV). I will review the different mechanisms proposed to explain particle acceleration and recent constraints derived from the comparison of synthetic emission maps with multi-wavelength data, including variability.

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arXiv2015

Constraints on particle acceleration sites in the Crab Nebula from relativistic MHD simulations

The Crab Nebula is one of the most efficient accelerators in the Galaxy and the only galactic source showing direct evidence of PeV particles. In spite of this, the physical process behind such effective acceleration is still a deep mystery. While particle acceleration, at least at the highest energies, is commonly thought to occur at the pulsar wind termination shock, the properties of the upstream flow are thought to be non-uniform along the shock surface, and important constraints on the mechanism at work come from exact knowledge of where along this surface particles are being accelerated. Here we use axisymmetric relativistic MHD simulations to obtain constraints on the acceleration site(s) of particles of different energies in the Crab Nebula. Various scenarios are considered for the injection of particles responsible for synchrotron radiation in the different frequency bands, radio, optical and X-rays. The resulting emission properties are compared with available data on the multi wavelength time variability of the inner nebula. Our main result is that the X-ray emitting particles are accelerated in the equatorial region of the pulsar wind. Possible implications on the nature of the acceleration mechanism are discussed.

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arXiv2014

The origin of galactic cosmic rays

Initial discovery of CRs dates back to a century ago (1912). Their identification as particles rather than radiation dates to about 20 years later and in 20 more years also the first suggestion that they were associated with SNRs was in place. The basic mechanism behind their acceleration was suggested almost 40 years ago. Much work has been done since then to the aim of proving that both the acceleration mechanism and site are well understood, but no definite proof has been obtained: in spite of impressive progress of both theory and observations, the evidence in support of the commonly accepted interpretation is only circumstantial. In the following I will try to make the point on where we stand in terms of how our theories confront with data: I will review recent progress on the subject and try to point to avenues to pursue in order to gather new proofs, if not smoking gun evidence of the origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays.

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arXiv2013

On the MHD modeling of the Crab Nebula radio emission

In recent years, it has become a well-established paradigm that many aspects of the physics of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) can be fully accounted for within a relativistic MHD description. Numerical simulations have proven extremely successful in reproducing the X-ray morphology of the Crab Nebula, down to very fine detail. Radio emission, instead, is currently one of the most obscure aspects of the physics of these objects, and one that holds important information about pulsar properties and their role as antimatter factories. Here we address the question of radio emission morphology and integrated spectrum from the Crab Nebula, by using for the first time an axisymmetric dynamical model with parameters chosen to best reproduce its X-ray morphology. Based on our findings we discuss constraints on the origin of the radio emitting particles.

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arXiv2013

XIPE: the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer

X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a small mission with a launch in 2017 but not selected. XIPE is composed of two out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD) filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus and two additional GPDs filled with pressurized Ar-DME facing the sun. The Minimum Detectable Polarization is 14 % at 1 mCrab in 10E5 s (2-10 keV) and 0.6 % for an X10 class flare. The Half Energy Width, measured at PANTER X-ray test facility (MPE, Germany) with JET-X optics is 24 arcsec. XIPE takes advantage of a low-earth equatorial orbit with Malindi as down-link station and of a Mission Operation Center (MOC) at INPE (Brazil).

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arXiv2012

Spectral breaks as a signature of cosmic ray induced turbulence in the Galaxy

We show that the complex shape of the cosmic ray (CR) spectrum, as recently measured by PAMELA and inferred from Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of molecular clouds in the Gould belt, can be naturally understood in terms of basic plasma astrophysics phenomena. A break from a harder to a softer spectrum at blue rigidity R\simeq 10 GV follows from a transition from transport dominated by advection of particles with Alfven waves to a regime where diffusion in the turbulence generated by the same CRs is dominant. A second break at R\simeq 200 GV happens when the diffusive propagation is no longer determined by the self-generated turbulence, but rather by the cascading of externally generated turbulence (for instance due to supernova (SN) bubbles) from large spatial scales to smaller scales where CRs can resonate. Implications of this scenario for the cosmic ray spectrum, grammage and anisotropy are discussed.

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arXiv2011

Diffusive propagation of cosmic rays from supernova remnants in the Galaxy. I: spectrum and chemical composition

In this paper we investigate the effect of stochasticity in the spatial and temporal distribution of supernova remnants on the spectrum and chemical composition of cosmic rays observed at Earth. The calculations are carried out for different choices of the diffusion coefficient D(E) experienced by cosmic rays during propagation in the Galaxy. In particular, at high energies we assume that D(E)\sim E^δ, with $δ=1/3$ and $δ=0.6$ being the reference scenarios. The large scale distribution of supernova remnants in the Galaxy is modeled following the distribution of pulsars, with and without accounting for the spiral structure of the Galaxy. We find that the stochastic fluctuations induced by the spatial and temporal distribution of supernovae, together with the effect of spallation of nuclei, lead to mild but sensible violations of the simple, leaky-box-inspired rule that the spectrum observed at Earth is $N(E)\propto E^{-α}$ with $α=γ+δ$, where $γ$ is the slope of the cosmic ray injection spectrum at the sources. Spallation of nuclei, even with the small rates appropriate for He, may account for slight differences in spectral slopes between different nuclei, providing a possible explanation for the recent CREAM observations. For $δ=1/3$ we find that the slope of the proton and helium spectra are $\sim 2.67$ and $\sim 2.6$ respectively at energies above 1 TeV (to be compared with the measured values of $2.66\pm 0.02$ and $2.58\pm 0.02$). For $δ=0.6$ the hardening of the He spectra is not observed. We also comment on the effect of time dependence of the escape of cosmic rays from supernova remnants, and of a possible clustering of the sources in superbubbles. In a second paper we will discuss the implications of these different scenarios for the anisotropy of cosmic rays.

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arXiv2011

Diffusive propagation of cosmic rays from supernova remnants in the Galaxy. II: anisotropy

We investigate the effects of stochasticity in the spatial and temporal distribution of supernova remnants on the anisotropy of cosmic rays observed at Earth. The calculations are carried out for different choices of the diffusion coefficient D(E) for propagation in the Galaxy. The propagation and spallation of nuclei are taken into account. At high energies we assume that $D(E)\sim(E/Z)^δ$, with $δ=1/3$ and $δ=0.6$ being the reference scenarios. The large scale distribution of supernova remnants in the Galaxy is modeled following the distribution of pulsars with and without accounting for the spiral structure of the Galaxy. Our calculations allow us to determine the contribution to anisotropy resulting from both the large scale distribution of SNRs in the Galaxy and the random distribution of the nearest remnants. The naive expectation that the anisotropy amplitude scales as D(E) is shown to be an oversimplification which does not reflect in the predicted anisotropy for any realistic distribution of the sources. The fluctuations in the anisotropy pattern are dominated by nearby sources, so that predicting or explaining the observed anisotropy amplitude and phase becomes close to impossible. We find however that the very weak energy dependence of the anisotropy amplitude below $10^{5}$ GeV and the rise at higher energies, can best be explained if the diffusion coefficient is $D(E)\sim E^{1/3}$. Faster diffusion, for instance with $δ=0.6$, leads in general to an exceedingly large anisotropy amplitude. The spiral structure introduces interesting trends in the energy dependence of the anisotropy pattern, which qualitatively reflect the trend seen in the data. For large values of the halo size we find that the anisotropy becomes dominated by the large scale regular structure of the source distribution, leading indeed to a monotonic increase of $δ_A$ with energy.

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arXiv2010

Positrons from pulsar winds

Pulsars, or more generally rotation powered neutron stars, are excellent factories of antimatter in the Galaxy, in the form of pairs of electrons and positrons. Electrons are initially extracted from the surface of the star by the intense rotation induced electric fields and later transformed into electron-positron pairs through electromagnetic cascading. Observations of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) show that cascades in the pulsar magnetosphere must ensure pair multiplicities of order $10^{4}-10^{5}$. These pairs finally end up as part of the relativistic magnetized wind emanating from the pulsar. The wind is slowed down, from its highly relativistic bulk motion, at a termination shock, which represents the reverse shock due to its interaction with the surrounding ejecta of the progenitor supernova. At the (relativistic) termination shock, acceleration of the pairs occurs, as part of the dissipation process, so that the cold wind is transformed into a plasma of relativistic non-thermal particles, plus a potential thermal component, which however has never been observed. As long as the pulsar wind is embedded in the supernova remnant these pairs are forced to escavate a bubble and lose energy adiabatically (because of the expansion) and radiatively (because of magnetic and radiation fields). We discuss here the observational constraints on the energy and number content of such pairs and discuss the scenarios that may allow for the pairs to escape in the interstellar medium and possibly contribute to the positron excess that has recently been detected by the PAMELA satellite. Special attention is dedicated to the case of Pulsar Bow Shock Nebulae. The pairs produced in these objects may be effectively carried out of the Supernova Remnant and released in the Interstellar Medium. As a result, Bow Shock Pulsar Wind Nebulae might be the main contributors to the positron excess in the Galaxy.

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arXiv2008

A kinetic approach to cosmic ray induced streaming instability at supernova shocks

We show that a purely kinetic approach to the excitation of waves by cosmic rays in the vicinity of a shock front leads to predict the appearance of a non-alfvénic fastly growing mode which has the same dispersion relation as that previously found by \cite{bell04} by treating the plasma in the MHD approximation. The kinetic approach allows us to investigate the dependence of the dispersion relation of these waves on the microphysics of the current which compensates the cosmic ray flow. We also show that a resonant and a non-resonant mode may appear at the same time and one of the two may become dominant on the other depending on the conditions in the acceleration region. We discuss the role of the unstable modes for magnetic field amplification and particle acceleration in supernova remnants at different stages of the remnant evolution.

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arXiv2008

Dynamical effects of self-generated magnetic fields in cosmic ray modified shocks

Recent observations of greatly amplified magnetic fields ($δB/B\sim 100$) around supernova shocks are consistent with the predictions of the non-linear theory of particle acceleration (NLT), if the field is generated upstream of the shock by cosmic ray induced streaming instability. The high acceleration efficiencies and large shock modifications predicted by NLT need however to be mitigated to confront observations, and this is usually assumed to be accomplished by some form of turbulent heating. We show here that magnetic fields with the strength inferred from observations have an important dynamical role on the shock, and imply a shock modification substantially reduced with respect to the naive unmagnetized case. The effect appears as soon as the pressure in the turbulent magnetic field becomes comparable with the pressure of the thermal gas. The relative importance of this unavoidable effect and of the poorly known turbulent heating is assessed. More specifically we conclude that even in the cases in which turbulent heating may be of some importance, the dynamical reaction of the field cannot be neglected, as instead is usually done in most current calculations.

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arXiv2008

Kinetic approaches to particle acceleration at cosmic ray modified shocks

Kinetic approaches provide an effective description of the process of particle acceleration at shock fronts and allow to take into account the dynamical reaction of the accelerated particles as well as the amplification of the turbulent magnetic field as due to streaming instability. The latter does in turn affect the maximum achievable momentum and thereby the acceleration process itself, in a chain of causality which is typical of non-linear systems. Here we provide a technical description of two of these kinetic approaches and show that they basically lead to the same conclusions. In particular we discuss the effects of shock modification on the spectral shape of the accelerated particles, on the maximum momentum, on the thermodynamic properties of the background fluid and on the escaping and advected fluxes of accelerated particles.

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arXiv2007

Simulated synchrotron and Inverse Compton emission from Pulsar Wind Nebulae

We present a complete set of diagnostic tools aimed at reproducing synthetic non-thermal (synchrotron and/or Inverse Compton, IC) emissivity, integrated flux energy, polarization and spectral index simulated maps in comparison to observations. The time dependent relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) equations are solved with a shock capturing code together with the evolution of the maximum particles energy. Applications to Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) are shown.

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arXiv2007

Theory of nonlinear particle acceleration at shocks and self-generation of the magnetic field

We present some recent developments in the theory of particle acceleration at shock fronts in the presence of dynamical reaction of the accelerated particles and self-generation of magnetic field due to streaming instability. The spectra of accelerated particles, the velocity, magnetic field and temperature profiles can be calculated in this approach anywhere in the precursor and in the downstream region. The implications for the origin of cosmic rays and for the phenomenology of supernova remnants will be discussed.

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