TY - JOUR
T1 - Particle Acceleration in Kink-unstable Jets
AU - Davelaar, Jordy
AU - Philippov, Alexander A.
AU - Bromberg, Omer
AU - Singh, Chandra B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/6/20
Y1 - 2020/6/20
N2 - Magnetized jets in gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei are thought to be efficient accelerators of particles; however, the process responsible for the acceleration is still a matter of active debate. In this work, we study the kink instability in non-rotating force-free jets using first-principle particle-in-cell simulations. We obtain similar overall evolution of the instability as found in magnetohydrodynamics simulations. The instability first generates large-scale current sheets, which at later times break up into small-scale turbulence. Reconnection in these sheets proceeds in the strong guide field regime, which results in a formation of steep power laws in the particle spectra. Later evolution shows heating of the plasma, which is driven by small-Amplitude turbulence induced by the kink instability. These two processes energize particles due to a combination of ideal and non-ideal electric fields.
AB - Magnetized jets in gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei are thought to be efficient accelerators of particles; however, the process responsible for the acceleration is still a matter of active debate. In this work, we study the kink instability in non-rotating force-free jets using first-principle particle-in-cell simulations. We obtain similar overall evolution of the instability as found in magnetohydrodynamics simulations. The instability first generates large-scale current sheets, which at later times break up into small-scale turbulence. Reconnection in these sheets proceeds in the strong guide field regime, which results in a formation of steep power laws in the particle spectra. Later evolution shows heating of the plasma, which is driven by small-Amplitude turbulence induced by the kink instability. These two processes energize particles due to a combination of ideal and non-ideal electric fields.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087022651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/ab95a2
DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/ab95a2
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AN - SCOPUS:85087022651
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 896
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 2
M1 - L31
ER -