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Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 115006 (2006) [4 pages]

Inductive and Electrostatic Acceleration in Relativistic Jet-Plasma Interactions

Johnny S. T. Ng and Robert J. Noble
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309, USA
Received 3 August 2005; published 24 March 2006

We report on the observation of rapid particle acceleration in numerical simulations of relativistic jet-plasma interactions and discuss the underlying mechanisms. The dynamics of a charge-neutral, narrow, electron-positron jet propagating through an unmagnetized electron-ion plasma was investigated using a three-dimensional, electromagnetic, particle-in-cell computer code. The interaction excited magnetic filamentation as well as electrostatic plasma instabilities. In some cases, the longitudinal electric fields generated inductively and electrostatically reached the cold plasma-wave-breaking limit, and the longitudinal momentum of about half the positrons increased by 50% with a maximum gain exceeding a factor of 2 during the simulation period. Particle acceleration via these mechanisms occurred when the criteria for Weibel instability were satisfied.

©2006 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.115006
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.115006
PACS: 52.27.Ny; 52.35.Qz; 98.54.Cm; 98.70.Sa
  • 52.27.Ny
    Relativistic plasmas
  • 52.35.Qz
    Plasma microinstabilities including ion-acoustic, two-stream, loss-cone, beam-plasma, drift, ion- or electron-cyclotron instabilities, etc
  • 98.54.Cm
    Active and peculiar galaxies (including BL Lacertae objects, blazars, Seyfert galaxies, Markarian galaxies, and active galactic nuclei)
  • 98.70.Sa
    Cosmic rays including sources, origin, acceleration, and interactions
  • YEAR: 2006
KEYWORDS: relativistic plasmas, plasma jets, plasma interactions, plasma simulation, plasma instability

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