HR: 0830h
AN: SH21B-0145    [PDF]
TI: Relativistic proton acceleration by magnetosonic shock waves
AU: * Shapiro, V D
EM: vshapiro@physics.ucsd.edu
AF: University of California, Physics Dept., 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093-0354
AU: Ucer, D
EM: ducer@physics.ucsd.edu
AF: University of California, Physics Dept., 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093-0354
AB: Shock surfing acceleration of protons to relativistic energies by the magnetosonic shocks is analyzed. For relativistic energies, contrary to the non-relativistic case, the kinetic energy with which the accelerated particle bounces in the direction of shock normal decreases during the acceleration. Therefore the particle, being initially trapped in front of the shock, can not overcome potential barrier at the shock front and can remain in the acceleration region indefinitely . Another possibility for particle to escape downstream from the acceleration region is due to the erosion of the electric repulsive force of the shock by the normal component of the Lorentz force. This is why for effective acceleration, the electric field at the shock front must be sufficiently large which is possible when the ambient magnetic field is strong enough (electron cyclotron frequency exceeds plasma frequency). Following this idea, an application for the relativistic proton acceleration in the solar corona is discussed in the paper.
DE: 7807 Charged particle motion and acceleration
DE: 7851 Shock waves
DE: 7867 Wave/particle interactions
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting