Universal behaviour of shock precursors in the presence of efficient cosmic ray acceleration

Journal article

The self-consistent interaction between energetic particles and self-generated hydromagnetic waves in a cosmic ray pressure dominated plasma is considered. Using a three-dimensional hybrid magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)-kinetic code, whichutilizes a spherical harmonic expansion of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation, high-resolution simulations of the magnetic field growth including feedback on the cosmic rays are carried out. It is found that for shocks with high cosmic ray acceleration efficiency, the magnetic fields become highly disorganized, resulting in near isotropic diffusion, independent of the initial orientation of the ambient magnetic field. The possibility of sub-Bohm diffusion is demonstrated for parallel shocks, while the diffusion coefficient approaches the Bohm limit from below for oblique shocks. This universal behaviour suggests that Bohm diffusion in the root-mean-squared field inferred from observation may provide a realistic estimate for the maximum energy acceleration timescale in young supernova remnants. Although disordered, the magnetic field is not self-similar suggesting a non-uniform energy-dependent behaviour of the energetic particle transport in the precursor. Possible indirect radiative signatures of cosmic ray driven magnetic field amplification are discussed. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Authors: Reville, B; Bell, A

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Volume: 430
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 2873-2884
• Publication date: 2013-04-01
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stt100
• EISSN: 1365-2966
• ISSN: 0035-8711
• Language: English
• Keywords: cosmic rays; instabilities; plasmas; acceleration of particles