• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.49-63
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• 2013

Nonthermal radiation from supernova remnants (SNRs) provides observational evidence and constraints on the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) hypothesis for the origins of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs). Recently it has been recognized that a variety of plasma wave-particle interactions operate at astrophysical shocks and the detailed outcomes of DSA are governed by their complex and nonlinear interrelationships. Here we calculate the energy spectra of CR protons and electrons accelerated at Type Ia SNRs, using time-dependent, DSA simulations with phenomenological models for magnetic field amplification due to CR streaming instabilities, Alf$\acute{e}$enic drift, and free escape boundary. We show that, if scattering centers drift with the Alf$\acute{e}$en speed in the amplified magnetic fields, the CR energy spectrum is steepened and the acceleration efficiency is significantly reduced at strong CR modified SNR shocks. Even with fast Afv$\acute{e}$nic drift, DSA can still be efficient enough to develop a substantial shock precursor due to CR pressure feedback and convert about 20-30% of the SN explosion energy into CRs. Since the high energy end of the CR proton spectrum is composed of the particles that are injected in the early stages, in order to predict nonthermal emissions, especially in X-ray and ${\gamma}-ray$ bands, it is important to follow the time dependent evolution of the shock dynamics, CR injection process, magnetic field amplification, and particle escape. Thus it is crucial to understand the details of these plasma interactions associated with collisionless shocks in successful modeling of nonlinear DSA.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 2011

We calculate the energy spectra of cosmic ray (CR) protons and electrons at a plane shock with quasi-parallel magnetic fields, using time-dependent, diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) simulations, including energy losses via synchrotron emission and Inverse Compton (IC) scattering. A thermal leakage injection model and a Bohm type diffusion coefficient are adopted. The electron spectrum at the shock becomes steady after the DSA energy gains balance the synchrotron/IC losses, and it cuts off at the equilibrium momentum $p_{eq}$. In the postshock region the cutoff momentum of the electron spectrum decreases with the distance from the shock due to the energy losses and the thickness of the spatial distribution of electrons scales as $p^{-1}$. Thus the slope of the downstream integrated spectrum steepens by one power of p for $p_{br}$ < p < $p_{eq}$, where the break momentum decreases with the shock age as $p_{br}\;{\infty}\;t^{-1}$. In a CR modified shock, both the proton and electron spectrum exhibit a concave curvature and deviate from the canonical test-particle power-law, and the upstream integrated electron spectrum could dominate over the downstream integrated spectrum near the cutoff momentum. Thus the spectral shape near the cutoff of X-ray synchrotron emission could reveal a signature of nonlinear DSA.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.127-138
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• 2012

We explore how wave-particle interactions affect diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) at astrophysical shocks by performing time-dependent kinetic simulations, in which phenomenological models for magnetic field amplification (MFA), Alfv$\acute{e}$nic drift, thermal leakage injection, Bohm-like diffusion, and a free escape boundary are implemented. If the injection fraction of cosmic-ray (CR) particles is ${\xi}$ > $2{\times}10^{-4}$, for the shock parameters relevant for young supernova remnants, DSA is efficient enough to develop a significant shock precursor due to CR feedback, and magnetic field can be amplified up to a factor of 20 via CR streaming instability in the upstream region. If scattering centers drift with Alfv$\acute{e}$n speed in the amplified magnetic field, the CR energy spectrum can be steepened significantly and the acceleration efficiency is reduced. Nonlinear DSA with self-consistent MFA and Alfv$\acute{e}$nic drift predicts that the postshock CR pressure saturates roughly at ~10 % of the shock ram pressure for strong shocks with a sonic Mach number ranging $20{\leq}M_s{\leq}100$. Since the amplified magnetic field follows the flow modification in the precursor, the low energy end of the particle spectrum is softened much more than the high energy end. As a result, the concave curvature in the energy spectra does not disappear entirely even with the help of Alfv$\acute{e}$nic drift. For shocks with a moderate Alfv$\acute{e}$n Mach number ($M_A$ < 10), the accelerated CR spectrum can become as steep as $E^{-2.1}$ - $E^{-2.3}$, which is more consistent with the observed CR spectrum and gamma-ray photon spectrum of several young supernova remnants.