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  • On the spectrum of high-ene...
    Ptuskin, V. S.; Zirakashvili, V. N.

    Astronomy & astrophysics, 01/2005, Letnik: 429, Številka: 3
    Journal Article

    The cosmic-ray streaming instability creates strong magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the precursor of a SN shock. The level of turbulence determines the maximum energy of cosmic-ray particles accelerated by the diffusive shock acceleration mechanism. In this paper we present the continuation of previous work (Ptuskin & Zirakashvili 2003). We assume that Kolmogorov type nonlinear wave interactions together with ion-neutral collisions restrict the amplitude of the random magnetic field. As a result, the maximum energy of the accelerated particles strongly depends on the age of a SNR. The average spectrum of cosmic rays injected in the interstellar medium in the course of the adiabatic SNR evolution (the Sedov stage) is approximately $Q(p)p^{2}\propto p^{-2}$ at energies larger than 10-30 GeV/nucleon and with a maximum particle energy that is close to the position of the knee in the cosmic-ray spectrum observed at ~$4\times10^{15}$ eV. At an earlier stage of SNR evolution – the ejecta-dominated stage described by the Chevalier-Nadyozhin solution, the particles are accelerated to higher energies and have a rather steep power-law distribution. These results suggest that the knee may mark the transition from the ejecta-dominated to the adiabatic evolution of SNR shocks which accelerate cosmic rays.