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Register a new userApplying Relativistic Reconnection to Blazar Jets
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Added by
Krzysztof Nalewajko
Publication date
2016
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
Krzysztof Nalewajko
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Rapid and luminous flares of non-thermal radiation observed in blazars require an efficient mechanism of energy dissipation and particle acceleration in relativistic active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. Particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection is being actively studied by kinetic numerical simulations. Relativistic reconnection produces hard power-law electron energy distributions N(gamma) = N_0 gamma^(-p) exp(-gamma/gamma_max) with index p -> 1 and exponential cut-off Lorentz factor gamma_max ~ sigma in the limit of magnetization sigma = B^2/(4 pi w) >> 1 (where w is the relativistic enthalpy density). Reconnection in electron-proton plasma can additionally boost gamma_max by the mass ratio m_p/m_e. Hence, in order to accelerate particles to gamma_max ~ 10^6 in the case of BL Lacs, reconnection should proceed in plasma of very high magnetization sigma_max >~ 10^3. On the other hand, moderate mean jet magnetization values are required for magnetic bulk acceleration of relativistic jets, sigma_mean ~ Gamma_j <~ 20 (where Gamma_j is the jet bulk Lorentz factor). I propose that the systematic dependence of gamma_max on blazar luminosity class -- the blazar sequence -- may result from a systematic trend in sigma_max due to homogeneous loading of leptons by pair creation regulated by the energy density of high-energy external radiation fields. At the same time, relativistic AGN jets should be highly inhomogeneous due to filamentary loading of protons, which should determine the value of sigma_mean roughly independently of the blazar class.
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Cosmic sources of gamma-ray radiation in the GeV range are often characterized by violent variability, in particular this concerns blazars, gamma-ray bursts, and the pulsar wind nebula Crab. Such gamma-ray emission requires a very efficient particle acceleration mechanism. If the environment, in which such emission is produced, is relativistically magnetized (i.e., that magnetic energy density dominates even the rest-mass energy density of matter), then the most natural mechanism of energy dissipation and particle acceleration is relativistic magnetic reconnection. Basic research into this mechanism is performed by means of kinetic numerical simulations of various configurations of collisionless relativistic plasma with the use of the particle-in-cell algorithm. Such technique allows to investigate the details of particle acceleration mechanism, including radiative energy losses, and to calculate the temporal, spatial, spectral and angular distributions of synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation. The results of these simulations indicate that the effective variability time scale of the observed radiation can be much shorter than the light-crossing time scale of the simulated domain.
Rapid gamma-ray flares pose an astrophysical puzzle, requiring mechanisms both to accelerate energetic particles and to produce fast observed variability. These dual requirements may be satisfied by collisionless relativistic magnetic reconnection. On the one hand, relativistic reconnection can energize gamma-ray emitting electrons. On the other, as previous kinetic simulations have shown, the reconnection acceleration mechanism preferentially focuses high-energy particles -- and their emitted photons -- into beams, which may create rapid blips in flux as they cross a telescopes line of sight. Using a series of 2D pair-plasma particle-in-cell simulations, we explicitly demonstrate the critical role played by radiative cooling in mediating the observable signatures of this `kinetic beaming effect. Only in our efficiently cooled simulations do we measure kinetic beaming beyond one light crossing time of the reconnection layer. We find a correlation between the cooling strength and the photon energy range across which persistent kinetic beaming occurs: stronger cooling coincides with a wider range of beamed photon energies. We also apply our results to rapid gamma-ray flares in flat-spectrum radio quasars, suggesting that a paradigm of radiatively efficient kinetic beaming constrains relevant emission models. In particular, beaming-produced variability may be more easily realized in two-zone (e.g. spine-sheath) set-ups, with Compton seed photons originating in the jet itself, rather than in one-zone external Compton scenarios.
Basic properties of relativistic magnetic reconnection in electron-positron pair plasmas are investigated by using a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. We first revisit a problem by Hesse & Zenitani (2007), who examined the kinetic Ohms law across the X line. We formulate a relativistic Ohms law by decomposing the stress-energy tensor. Then, the role of the new term, called the heat-flow inertial term, is examined in the PIC simulation data. We further evaluate the energy balance in the reconnection system. These analyses demonstrate physically transparent ways to diagnose relativistic kinetic data.
Using fully kinetic simulations, we study the scaling of the inflow speed of collisionless magnetic reconnection from the non-relativistic to ultra-relativistic limit. In the anti-parallel configuration, the inflow speed increases with the upstream magnetization parameter $sigma$ and approaches the light speed when $sigma > O(100)$, leading to an enhanced reconnection rate. In all regimes, the divergence of pressure tensor is the dominant term responsible for breaking the frozen-in condition at the x-line. The observed scaling agrees well with a simple model that accounts for the Lorentz contraction of the plasma passing through the diffusion region. The results demonstrate that the aspect ratio of the diffusion region remains $sim 0.1$ in both the non-relativistic and relativistic limits.
Particle energization in shear flows is invoked to explain non-thermal emission from the boundaries of relativistic astrophysical jets. Yet, the physics of particle injection, i.e., the mechanism that allows thermal particles to participate in shear-driven acceleration, remains unknown. With particle-in-cell simulations, we study the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instabilities seeded by the velocity shear between a relativistic magnetically-dominated electron-positron jet and a weakly magnetized electron-ion ambient plasma. We show that, in their nonlinear stages, KH vortices generate kinetic-scale reconnection layers, which efficiently energize the jet particles, thus providing a first-principles mechanism for particle injection into shear-driven acceleration. Our work lends support to spine-sheath models of jet emission - with a fast core/spine surrounded by a slower sheath - and can explain the origin of radio-emitting electrons at the boundaries of relativistic jets.
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