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Michal Ostrowski

Publications and source records attributed to Michal Ostrowski.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

First-order Fermi Particle Acceleration at Relativistic Shock Waves with a 'Realistic' Magnetic Field Turbulence Model

First-order Fermi acceleration process at a relativistic shock wave is investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations involving numerical integration of particle equations of motion in a turbulent magnetic field near the shock. In comparison to earlier studies a few 'realistic' features of the magnetic field structure are included. The upstream field consists of a mean field component inclined at some angle to the shock normal and finite-amplitude perturbations imposed upon it. The perturbations are assumed to be static in the local plasma rest frame. We apply an analytic model for the turbulence with a flat or a Kolmogorov spectrum within a finite (wide) wave vector range. The magnetic field is continuous across the shock -- the downstream field structure is derived from the upstream one from the hydrodynamical shock jump conditions. We present and discuss the obtained particle spectra and angular distributions at mildly relativistic sub- and superluminal shocks. We show that particle spectra diverge from a simple power-law, an exact shape of the spectrum depends on both an amplitude of the magnetic field perturbations and the considered wave power spectrum.

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Cosmic ray acceleration at parallel relativistic shocks in the presence of finite-amplitude magnetic field perturbations

We study the first-order Fermi acceleration process at parallel shock waves by means of Monte Carlo simulations. A 'realistic' model of the magnetic field turbulence is applied involving sinusoidal waves imposed on the background mean field parallel to the shock normal. The finite-amplitude magnetic field perturbations lead to locally oblique field configurations at the shock and the respective magnetic field compression. It results in modification of the particle acceleration process introducing some features observed in oblique shocks, e.g. particle reflections from the shock. For the parallel mildly relativistic shocks we demonstrate for the first time a (non-monotonic) variation of the accelerated particle spectral index with the turbulence amplitude.

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Energetic particle acceleration in a 3D magnetic field reconnection model: a role of MHD turbulence

The role of MHD turbulence in the cosmic ray acceleration process in a volume with a reconnecting magnetic field is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. We performed modelling of proton acceleration with the 3D analytic model of stationary reconnection of Craig et al. (1995) providing the unperturbed background conditions. Perturbations of particle trajectories due to a turbulent magnetic field component were simulated using small-amplitude pitch-angle momentum scattering, enabling modelling of both small and large amplitude turbulence in a wide wave vector range. Within the approach, no second-order Fermi acceleration process is allowed. Comparison of the acceleration process in models involving particle trajectory perturbations to the unperturbed one reveals that the turbulence can substantially increase the acceleration efficiency, enabling much higher final particle energies and flat particle spectra.

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