We present in this paper both a linear study and numerical relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the non-resonant streaming instability occurring in the precursor of relativistic ...shocks. In the shock front rest frame, we perform a linear analysis of this instability in a likely configuration for ultra-relativistic shock precursors. This considers magneto-acoustic waves having a wave vector perpendicular to the shock front and the large-scale magnetic field. Our linear analysis is achieved without any assumption on the shock velocity and is thus valid for all velocity regimes. In order to check our calculation, we also perform relativistic MHD simulations describing the propagation of the aforementioned magneto-acoustic waves through the shock precursor. The numerical calculations confirm our linear analysis, which predicts that the growth rate of the instability is maximal for ultra-relativistic shocks and exhibits a wavenumber dependence kx
1/2. Our numerical simulations also depict the saturation regime of the instability where we show that the magnetic amplification is moderate but nevertheless significant (δB/B ≤ 10). This latter fact may explain the presence of strong turbulence in the vicinity of relativistic magnetized shocks. Our numerical approach also introduces a convenient means to handle isothermal (ultra-)relativistic MHD conditions.
Context. Numerical models of the wind-blown bubble of massive stars usually only account for the wind of a single star. However, since massive stars are usually formed in clusters, it would be more ...realistic to follow the evolution of a bubble created by several stars. Aims. We develop a two-dimensional (2D) model of the circumstellar bubble created by two massive stars, a 40 M⊙ star and a 25 M⊙ star, and follow its evolution. The stars are separated by approximately 16 pc and surrounded by a cold medium with a density of 20 particles per cm3. Methods. We use the MPI-AMRVAC hydrodynamics code to solve the conservation equations of hydrodynamics on a 2D cylindrical grid using time-dependent models for the wind parameters of the two stars. At the end of the stellar evolution (4.5 and 7.0 million years for the 40 and 25 M⊙ stars, respectively), we simulate the supernova explosion of each star. Results. Each star initially creates its own bubble. However, as the bubbles expand they merge, creating a combined, aspherical bubble. The combined bubble evolves over time, influenced by the stellar winds and supernova explosions. Conclusions. The evolution of a wind-blown bubble created by two stars deviates from that of the bubbles around single stars. In particular, once one of the stars has exploded, the bubble is too large for the wind of the remaining star to maintain and the outer shell starts to disintegrate. The lack of thermal pressure inside the bubble also changes the behavior of circumstellar features close to the remaining star. The supernovae are contained inside the bubble, which reflects part of the energy back into the circumstellar medium.
It is largely accepted that Galactic cosmic rays, which pervade the interstellar medium, originate by means of shock waves in supernova remnants. Cosmic rays activate the rich chemistry that is ...observed in a molecular cloud and they also regulate its collapse timescale, determining the efficiency of star and planet formation, but they cannot penetrate up to the densest part of a molecular cloud, where the formation of stars is expected, because of energy loss processes and magnetic field deflections. Recently, observations towards young protostellar systems showed a surprisingly high value of the ionisation rate, the main indicator of the presence of cosmic rays in molecular cloud. Synchrotron emission, the typical feature of relativistic electrons, has also been detected towards the bow shock of a T Tauri star. Nevertheless, the origin of these signatures peculiar to accelerated particles is still puzzling. Here we show that particle acceleration can be driven by shock waves occurring in protostars through the first-order Fermi acceleration mechanism. We expect that shocks in protostellar jets can be efficient accelerators of protons, which can be boosted up to mildly relativistic energies. A strong acceleration can also take place at the protostellar surface, where shocks produced by infalling material during the phase of collapse are powerful enough to accelerate protons. Our model shows that thermal particles can experience an acceleration during the first phases of a system similar to the proto-Sun, and can also be used to explain recent observations. The presence of a local source of cosmic rays may have an unexpected impact over the process of the formation of stars and planets, as well as on the pre-biotic molecule formation.
The few known γ-ray binary systems are all associated with variable radio and X-ray emission. The TeV source HESS J0632+057, apparently associated with the Be star MWC 148, is plausibly a new member ...of this class. Following the identification of a variable X-ray counterpart to the TeV source we conducted Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and Very Large Array (VLA) observations in 2008 June–September to search for the radio counterpart of this object. A point-like radio source at the position of the star is detected in both 1280-MHz GMRT and 5-GHz VLA observations, with an average spectral index, α, of ∼0.6. In the VLA data there is significant flux variability on ∼month time-scales around the mean flux density of ≈0.3 mJy. These radio properties (and the overall spectral energy distribution) are consistent with an interpretation of HESS J0632+057 as a lower power analogue of the established γ-ray binary systems.
In order to model the magnetic field amplification and particle acceleration that takes place in astrophysical shocks, we need a code that can efficiently model the large-scale structure of the ...shock, while still taking the kinetic aspect of supra-thermal particles into account. Starting from the proven MPI-AMRVAC magnetohydrodynamics code we have created a code that combines the kinetic treatment of the Particle-in-Cell (PIC) method for suprathermal particles with the large-scale efficiency of grid-based hydrodynamics (MHD) to model the thermal plasma, including the use of adaptive mesh refinement. Using this code we simulate astrophysical shocks, varying both the Mach-number and the angle between the magnetic field and the shock to test our code against existing results and study both the evolution of the shock and the behaviour of supra-thermal particles. We find that the combined PIC-MHD method can accurately recover the results that were previously obtained with pure PIC codes. Furthermore, the efficiency of the code allows us to explore the available parameter space to a larger degree than has been done in previous work. Our results suggest that efficient particle acceleration can take place in near-oblique shocks were the magnetic field makes a large angle with the direction of the flow.
Observations indicate that most massive stars in the Galaxy appear in groups, called OB associations, where their strong wind activity generates large structures known as superbubbles, inside which ...the subsequent supernovae (SNe) explode, with a tight space and time correlation. We investigate four main questions: 1) does the clustering of massive stars and SN explosions influence the particle acceleration process usually associated with SNe, and induce collective effects which would not manifest around isolated supernova remnants?; 2) does it make a difference for the general phenomenology of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs), notably for their energy spectrum and composition?; 3) Can this help alleviate some of the problems encountered within the standard GCR source model?; and 4) Is the link between superbubbles and energetic particles supported by observational data, and can it be further tested and constrained? We argue for a positive answer to all these questions. Theoretical, phenomenological and observational aspects are treated in separate papers. Here, we discuss the interaction of massive stellar winds and SN shocks inside superbubbles and indicate how this leads to specific acceleration effects. We also show that due to the high SN explosion rate and low diffusion coefficient, low-energy particles experience repeated shock acceleration inside superbubbles.
This paper investigates the nature of the MHD turbulence excited by the streaming of accelerated cosmic rays in a shock wave precursor. The two recognised regimes (non-resonant and resonant) of the ...streaming instability are taken into account. We show that the non-resonant instability is very efficient and saturates through a balance between its growth and non-linear transfer. The cosmic-ray resonant instability then takes over and is quenched by advection through the shock. The level of turbulence is determined by the non-resonant regime if the shock velocity V sub(sh) is larger than a few times sub(CR) c, where sub(CR) is the ratio of the cosmic-ray pressure to the shock kinetic energy. The instability determines the dependence of the spectrum with respect to k sub( )(wavenumbers along the shock normal). The transverse cascade of Alfven waves simultaneously determines the dependence in k sub( perpendicular ). We also study the redistribution of turbulent energy between forward and backward waves, which occurs through the interaction of two Alfven and one slow magneto-sonic wave. Eventually the spectra at the longest wavelengths are found almost proportional to k super(-) sub( ) super(1). Downstream, anisotropy is further enhanced through the compression at shock crossing.
► We describe the impact that CTA is expected to have in cosmic ray studies. ► Population studies of supernova remnants will be possible. ► CTA will study the diffuse emission from our Galaxy and ...other galactic systems.
Galactic cosmic rays are commonly believed to be accelerated at supernova remnants via diffusive shock acceleration. Despite the popularity of this idea, a conclusive proof for its validity is still missing. Gamma-ray astronomy provides us with a powerful tool to tackle this problem, because gamma rays are produced during cosmic ray interactions with the ambient gas. The detection of gamma rays from several supernova remnants is encouraging, but still does not constitute a proof of the scenario, the main problem being the difficulty in disentangling the hadronic and leptonic contributions to the emission. Once released by their sources, cosmic rays diffuse in the interstellar medium, and finally escape from the Galaxy. The diffuse gamma-ray emission from the Galactic disk, as well as the gamma-ray emission detected from a few galaxies is largely due to the interactions of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium. On much larger scales, cosmic rays are also expected to permeate the intracluster medium, since they can be confined and accumulated within clusters of galaxies for cosmological times. Thus, the detection of gamma rays from clusters of galaxies, or even upper limits on their emission, will allow us to constrain the cosmic ray output of the sources they contain, such as normal galaxies, AGNs, and cosmological shocks. In this paper, we describe the impact that the Cherenkov Telescope Array, a future ground-based facility for very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy, is expected to have in this field of research.
Supernovae remnant shock waves could be at the origin of cosmic rays up to energies in excess of the knee (E 3 x 10 super(15) eV) if the magnetic field is efficiently amplified by the streaming of ...accelerated particles in the shock precursor. This paper follows up on a previous paper (Pelletier et al. 2006, A&A, in press) which derived the properties of the MHD turbulence so generated, in particular its anisotropic character, its amplitude and its spectrum. In the present paper, we calculate the diffusion coefficients, also accounting for compression through the shock, and show that the predicted three-dimensional turbulence spectrum k sub( perpendicular )S sub(3d)(k sub( ), k sub( perpendicular )) proportional to k super(-) sub( ) super(1)k super(-) sub( perpendicular ) alpha (with k sub( )and k sub( perpendicular ) the wavenumber components along and perpendicular to the shock normal) generally leads to Bohm diffusion in the parallel direction. However, if the anisotropy is constrained by a relation of the form k sub( ) proportional to k super(2) sub( perpendicular ) super(/3), which arises when the turbulent energy cascade occurs at a constant rate independent of scale, then the diffusion coefficient loses its Bohm scaling and scales as in isotropic Kolmogorov turbulence. We show that these diffusion coefficients allow to account for X-ray observations of supernova remnants. This paper also calculates the modification of the Fermi cycle due to the energy lost by cosmic rays in generating upstream turbulence and the concomittant steepening of the energy spectrum. Finally we confirm that cosmic rays can produced an amplified turbulence in young SNr during their free expansion phase such that the maximal energy is close to the knee and the spectral index is close to 2.3 in the warm phase of the interstellar medium.
Context. Theoretical arguments as well as observations of young stellar objects (YSOs) support the presence of a diversified circumstellar environment. A stellar jet is thought to account for most of ...the stellar spin down and disk wind outflow for the observed high mass-loss rate, thus playing a major role in the launching of powerful jets. RY Tau, for instance, is an extensively studied intermediate mass pre-main sequence star. Observational data reveal a small-scale jet called micro-jet. Nevertheless, it is not clear how the micro-jet shapes the jet observed at a large scale. Aims. The goal is to investigate the spatial stability and structure of the central jet at a large scale by mixing the stellar and disk components. Methods. Two existing analytical self-similar models for the disk and the stellar winds to build the initial setups. Instead of using a polytropic equation of state, we mapped the heating and cooling sources from the analytical solutions. The heating exchange rate was controlled by two parameters, its spatial extent and its intensity. Results. The central jet and the surrounding disk are strongly affected by these two parameters. We separate the results into three categories, which show different emissivity, temperature, and velocity maps. We reached this categorization by looking at the opening angle of the stellar solution. For cylindrically, well-collimated jets, we have opening angles as low as 10° between 8 − 10 au, and for the wider jets, we can reach 30° with a morphology closer to radial solar winds. Conclusions. Our parametric study shows that the less heated the outflow is, the more collimated it appears. We also show that recollimation shocks appear consistently with UV observations in terms of temperature but not density.
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