On the Origin of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays II

Fowler, T K ; Colgate, S ; Li, H ; Bulmer, R H ; Pino, J

关键词: ACCELERATION;    ACCRETION DISKS;    ANGULAR MOMENTUM;    BLACK HOLES;    COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION;    COSMIC RAY SOURCES;    EEV RANGE;    ELECTRIC FIELDS;    ELECTRIC POTENTIAL;    ELECTRONS;    IONS;    LENGTH;    MASS;    GALAXY NUCLEI;    ORIGIN;    PLASMA INSTABILITY;    COSMIC RADIATION;    SIMULATION;    STANDARD MODEL;    SYNCHROTRON RADIATION;    TORQUE;    TRANSIENTS;    VERIFICATION;    VISCOSITY;    WAVELENGTHS;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1021558
RP-ID  :  LLNL-TR-474338
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1021558
Others  :  TRN: US1104194

学科分类：原子、分子光学和等离子物理

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

We show that accretion disks around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) could account for the enormous power in observed ultra high energy cosmic rays {approx}10{sup 20} eV (UHEs). In our model, cosmic rays are produced by quasi-steady acceleration of ions in magnetic structures previously proposed to explain jets around Active Galactic Nuclei with supermassive black holes. Steady acceleration requires that an AGN accretion disk act as a dynamo, which we show to follow from a modified Standard Model in which the magnetic torque of the dynamo replaces viscosity as the dominant mechanism accounting for angular momentum conservation during accretion. A black hole of mass M{sub BH} produces a steady dynamo voltage V {proportional_to} {radical}M{sub BH} giving V {approx} 10{sup 20} volts for M{sub BH} {approx} 10{sup 8} solar masses. The voltage V reappears as an inductive electric field at the advancing nose of a dynamo-driven jet, where plasma instability inherent in collisionless runaway acceleration allows ions to be steadily accelerated to energies {approx} V, finally ejected as cosmic rays. Transient events can produce much higher energies. The predicted disk radiation is similar to the Standard Model. Unique predictions concern the remarkable collimation of jets and emissions from the jet/radiolobe structure. Given MBH and the accretion rate, the model makes 7 predictions roughly consistent with data: (1) the jet length; (2) the jet radius; (3) the steady-state cosmic ray energy spectrum; (4) the maximum energy in this spectrum; (5) the UHE cosmic ray intensity on Earth; (6) electron synchrotron wavelengths; and (7) the power in synchrotron radiation. These qualitative successes motivate new computer simulations, experiments and data analysis to provide a quantitative verification of the model.