arXiv subjects

Giovanni Morlino

Publications and source records attributed to Giovanni Morlino.

43 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Non-linear Cosmic Ray propagation close to the acceleration site

Recent advances on gamma-ray observations from SuperNova Remnants and Molecular Clouds offer the possibility to study in detail the properties of the propagation of escaping Cosmic Rays (CR). However, a complete theory for CR transport outside the acceleration site has not been developed yet. Two physical processes are thought to be relevant to regulate the transport: the growth of waves caused by streaming instability, and possible wave damping mechanisms that reduce the growth of the turbulence. Only a few attempts have been made so far to incorporate these mechanisms in the theory of CR diffusion. In this work we present recent advances in this subject. In particular, we show results obtained by solving the coupled equations for the diffusion of CRs and the evolution of Alfven waves. We discuss the importance of streaming instabilities and wave damping in different ISM phases.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

CRIME - cosmic ray interactions in molecular environments

Molecular clouds act as targets for cosmic rays (CR), revealing their presence through either gamma-ray emission due to proton-proton interactions, and/or through the ionization level in the cloud, produced by the CR flux. The ionization rate is a unique tool, to some extent complementary to the gamma-ray emission, in that it allows to constrain the CR spectrum especially for energies below the pion production rate ($\approx 280$ MeV). Here we study the effect of ionization on $H_2$ clouds due to both CR protons and electrons, using the fully relativistic ionization cross sections, which is important to correctly account for the contribution due to relativistic CRs. The contribution to ionization due to secondary electrons is also included self-consistently. The whole calculation has been implemented into a numerical code which is publicly accessible through a web-interface. The code also include the calculation of gamma-ray emission once the CR spectrum

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Propagation of cosmic rays into diffuse clouds

We study the capability of low-energy cosmic rays (CR) to penetrate into diffuse clouds when they move from the hot ionized plasma to a cool cloud embedded in that plasma. The spectrum of CR inside a cloud can be remarkably different from the the one present in the hot interstellar medium because when CRs pass through a dense cloud of matter, they suffer energy losses due to ionization and nuclear interactions. Hence there is a net flux of CRs towards the cloud that can excite Alfvén waves. In turn, self-excited Alfvén waves enhances the diffusion of CRs near the edge of the cloud, forcing CRs to spend more time in this layer and increasing the amount of energy losses. The final effect is that the flux of CR entering into the cloud is strongly suppressed below an energy threshold whose value depends on ambient parameters. For the first time we use the full kinetic theory to describe this problem, coupling CRs and Alfvén waves through the streaming instability, and including the damping of the waves due to ion-neutral friction and the CR energy losses due to ionization and pion production. Differently from previous approaches, this method allow us to describe the full CR spectrum and the magnetic turbulence spectrum in the transition region between hot interstellar medium and the cloud. For the typical size and density of diffuse clouds in the Galaxy, we find that the flux of particles entering the cloud is strongly reduced below E~10-100 MeV, while for larger energies the CR spectrum remain unaltered.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Using optical lines to study particle acceleration at supernova remnants

The shocks of several young supernova remnants (SNR) are often associated with very thin optical filaments dominated by Balmer emission resulting from charge-exchange and collisional excitation between neutral Hydrogen from the interstellar medium and shocked protons and electrons. Optical lines are a direct probe of the conditions at the shock, in particular the width of the narrow and broad components reflect the temperature upstream and downstream of the shock, respectively. When the shock accelerate efficiently non-thermal particles, the shock structure changes producing anomalous Balmer lines and it is possible to use their line shape and their spatial profile to check the efficiency of SNR shocks in accelerating cosmic rays. Here we illustrate the kinetic theory of shock acceleration in presence of neutrals with some applications to young SNRs. We show that in three cases (RCW 86, SNR 0509-67.5 and Tycho) anomalous Balmer lines can be explained assuming that a fraction of $\sim 10\%$ of the total shock kinetic energy is converted into not thermal particles, while in one single case, the northwestern part of SN 1006, there is no evidence of efficient acceleration.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Particle acceleration around SNR shocks

We review the basic features of particle acceleration theory around collisionless shocks in supernova remnants (SNRs). We show how non linear effects induced by the back reaction of accelerated particles onto the shock dynamics are of paramount importance to support the hipotesys that SNRs are the factories of Galactic cosmic rays. Recent developments in the modeling of the mechanism of diffusive shock acceleration are discussed, with emphasis on the role of magnetic field amplification and the presence of neutrals in the circumstellar environment. Special attention will be devoted to observational consequences of non linear effects on the multi-wavelength spectrum of SNRs, with emphasis on X-ray and gamma-ray emission. Finally we also discuss how Balmer lines, detected from several young SNRs, can be used to estimate the shock dynamical properties and the efficiency of CR acceleration.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Ionization and maximum energy of nuclei in shock acceleration theory

We study the acceleration of heavy nuclei at SNR shocks when the process of ionization is taken into account. Heavy atoms ($Z_N >$ few) in the interstellar medium which start the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) are never fully ionized at the moment of injection. The ionization occurs during the acceleration process, when atoms already move relativistically. For typical environment around SNRs the photo-ionization due to the background galactic radiation dominates over Coulomb collisions. The main consequence of ionization is the reduction of the maximum energy which ions can achieve with respect to the standard result of the DSA. In fact the photo-ionization has a timescale comparable to the beginning of the Sedov-Taylor phase, hence the maximum energy is no more proportional to the nuclear charge, as predicted by standard DSA, but rather to the effective ions' charge during the acceleration process, which is smaller than the total nuclear charge $Z_N$. This result can have a direct consequence in the prediction of the knee structure of the cosmic ray spectrum. Moreover the acceleration of ultra-heavy elements beyond the Iron's maximum energy is very hard to achieve making unlikely their possible contribution to the cosmic ray spectrum in the transition region between Galactic and extragalactic component.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

The role of ionization in the shock acceleration theory

We study the acceleration of heavy nuclei at SNR shocks taking into account the process of ionization. In the interstellar medium atoms heavier then hydrogen which start the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) are never fully ionized at the moment of injection. We will show that electrons in the atomic shells are stripped during the acceleration process, when the atoms already move relativistically. For typical environment around SNRs the dominant ionization process is the photo-ionization due to the background galactic radiation. The ionization has two interesting consequences. First, because the total photo-ionization time is comparable to the beginning of the Sedov-Taylor phase, the maximum energy which ions can achieve is smaller than the standard result of the DSA, which predict $E_{\max}\propto Z_N$. As a consequence the structure of the CR spectrum in the {\it knee} region can be affected. The second consequence is that electrons are stripped from atoms when they already move relativistically hence they can start the DSA without any pre-acceleration mechanism. We use the linear quasi-stationary approach to compute the spectrum of ions and electrons accelerated after being stripped. We show that the number of these secondary electrons is enough to account for the synchrotron radiation observed from young SNRs, if the amplification of the magnetic field occurs.

astro-ph.HE↗