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The Crab nebula is one of the most efficient accelerators in the Galaxy and the only galactic source showing direct evidence of PeV particles. In spite of this, the physical process behind such effective acceleration is still a deep mystery. While particle acceleration, at least at the highest energies, is commonly thought to occur at the pulsar wind termination shock, the properties of the upstream flow are thought to be non-uniform along the shock surface, and important constraints on the mechanism at work come from exact knowledge of where along this surface particles are being accelerated. Here we use axisymmetric relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations to obtain constraints on the acceleration site(s) of particles of different energies in the Crab nebula. Various scenarios are considered for the injection of particles responsible for synchrotron radiation in the different frequency bands, radio, optical and X-rays. The resulting emission properties are compared with available data on the multiwavelength time variability of the inner nebula. Our main result is that the X-ray emitting particles are accelerated in the equatorial region of the pulsar wind. Possible implications on the nature of the acceleration mechanism are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Balmer emission may be a powerful diagnostic tool for testing the paradigm of cosmic ray (CR) acceleration in young supernova remnant (SNR) shocks. The width of the broad Balmer line is a direct indicator of the downstream plasma temperature. In the case of efficient particle acceleration, an appreciable fraction of the total kinetic energy of the plasma is channeled into CRs, therefore the downstream temperature decreases and so does the broad Balmer line width. This width also depends on the level of thermal equilibration between ions and neutral hydrogen atoms in the downstream. Since generally only a few charge exchange (CE) reactions occur before ionization in young SNR shocks, equilibration between ions and neutrals is not reached, and a kinetic description of the neutrals is required to properly compute Balmer emission. Aims. We provide a method for calculating Balmer emission using a self-consistent description of the shock structure in the presence of neutrals and CRs, which also accounts for the non-Maxwellian distribution of neutrals. Methods. We use a recently developed semi-analytical approach, where neutral particles, ionized plasma, accelerated particles, and magnetic fields are all coupled together through the mass, momentum, and energy flux-conservation equations. The distribution of neutrals is obtained from the full Boltzmann equation in velocity space, coupled to Maxwellian ions through ionization and CE processes. The computation is also an improvement over previous work thanks to a better approximation of the atomic interaction rates. Results. We find that for shock speeds ≳2500 km s-1, the distribution of broad neutrals never approaches a Maxwellian and its moments differ from those of the ionized component. These differences lead to a smaller FWHM than predicted in previous calculations, where thermalization was assumed. Conclusions. The method presented here provides a realistic estimate of particle acceleration efficiency in Balmer-dominated shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a semi-analytical kinetic calculation of the process of non-linear diffusive shock acceleration (NLDSA) which includes the magnetic field amplification due to cosmic ray induced streaming instability, the dynamical reaction of the amplified magnetic field and the possible effects of turbulent heating. The approach is specialized to parallel shock waves, and the parameters we chose are the ones appropriate to forward shocks in supernova remnants. Our calculation allows us to show that the net effect of the amplified magnetic field is to enhance the maximum momentum of accelerated particles while reducing the concavity of the spectra, with respect to the standard predictions of NLDSA. This is mainly due to the dynamical reaction of the amplified field on the shock, which notably reduces the modification of the shock precursor. The total compression factors which are obtained for parameters typical of supernova remnants are , in good agreement with the values inferred from observations. The strength of the magnetic field produced through excitation of streaming instability is found in good agreement with the values inferred for several remnants if the thickness of the X-ray rims is interpreted as due to severe synchrotron losses of high-energy electrons. We also discuss the relative role of turbulent heating and magnetic dynamical reaction in driving the reduction of the precursor modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that a purely kinetic approach to the excitation of waves by cosmic rays in the vicinity of a shock front leads to predict the appearance of a non-Alfvénic fast-growing mode which has the same dispersion relation as that previously found by Bell in 2004 by treating the plasma in the magnetohydrodynamic approximation. The kinetic approach allows us to investigate the dependence of the dispersion relation of these waves on the microphysics of the current which compensates the cosmic ray flow. We also show that a resonant and a non-resonant mode may appear at the same time and one of the two may become dominant on the other depending on the conditions in the acceleration region. We discuss the role of the unstable modes for magnetic field amplification and particle acceleration in supernova remnants at different stages of the remnant evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle acceleration at astrophysical shocks may be very efficient if magnetic scattering is self-generated by the same particles. This non-linear process adds to the non-linear modification of the shock due to the dynamical reaction of the accelerated particles on the shock. Building on a previous general solution of the problem of particle acceleration with arbitrary diffusion coefficients, we present here the first semi-analytical calculation of particle acceleration with both effects taken into account at the same time; charged particles are accelerated in the background of Alfvén waves that they generate due to the streaming instability, and modify the dynamics of the plasma in the shock vicinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]