Kinetic Turbulence in Relativistic Plasma: From Thermal Bath to Nonthermal Continuum

Vladimir Zhdankin, Gregory R. Werner, Dmitri A. Uzdensky, and Mitchell C. Begelman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 055103 – Published 3 February 2017
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Abstract

We present results from particle-in-cell simulations of driven turbulence in magnetized, collisionless, and relativistic pair plasmas. We find that the fluctuations are consistent with the classical k5/3 magnetic energy spectrum at fluid scales and a steeper k4 spectrum at sub-Larmor scales, where k is the wave vector perpendicular to the mean field. We demonstrate the development of a nonthermal, power-law particle energy distribution f(E)Eα, with an index α that decreases with increasing magnetization and increases with an increasing system size (relative to the characteristic Larmor radius). Our simulations indicate that turbulence can be a viable source of energetic particles in high-energy astrophysical systems, such as pulsar wind nebulae, if scalings asymptotically become insensitive to the system size.

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  • Received 14 September 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.055103

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Plasma PhysicsGravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsNonlinear Dynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Vladimir Zhdankin1,*, Gregory R. Werner2, Dmitri A. Uzdensky2,3, and Mitchell C. Begelman1,4

  • 1JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, 440 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
  • 2Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, Physics Department, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
  • 3Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA
  • 4Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, 391 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

  • *zhdankin@jila.colorado.edu

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Issue

Vol. 118, Iss. 5 — 3 February 2017

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