Acceleration of Heavy Ions at Nonrelativistic Collisionless Shocks

Damiano Caprioli; Luca Orusa; Miha Cernetic; Colby C. Haggerty; Bricker Ostler

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ae109b

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Acceleration of Heavy Ions at Nonrelativistic Collisionless Shocks

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Acceleration of Heavy Ions at Nonrelativistic Collisionless Shocks

Damiano Caprioli, Luca Orusa, Miha Cernetic, Colby C. Haggerty and Bricker Ostler

Astrophysical journal. Letters, Vol.993(1), p.L1

11/01/2025

DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae109b

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Abstract

We investigate the process of diffusive shock acceleration of particles with mass number to charge number ratios A/Q > 1, e.g., partially ionized heavy ions. To this end, we introduce helium- and carbon-like ions at solar abundances into two-dimensional hybrid (kinetic ions-fluid electrons) simulations of nonrelativistic collisionless shocks. This study yields three main results: (1) Heavy ions are preferentially accelerated compared to hydrogen. For typical solar abundances, the energy transferred to accelerated helium ions is comparable to, or even exceeds, that of hydrogen, thereby enhancing the overall shock acceleration efficiency. (2) Accelerated helium ions contribute to magnetic field amplification, which increases the maximum attainable particle energy and steepens the spectra of accelerated particles. (3) The efficient acceleration of helium significantly enhances the production of hadronic gamma-rays and neutrinos, likely dominating the one due to hydrogen. These effects should be taken into account, especially when modeling strong space and astrophysical shocks.

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Physical Sciences

Science & Technology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Acceleration of Heavy Ions at Nonrelativistic Collisionless Shocks
Creators: Damiano Caprioli - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Luca Orusa - Princeton University
Miha Cernetic - Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Colby C. Haggerty - University of Hawaii System
Bricker Ostler - University of Chicago
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Astrophysical journal. Letters, Vol.993(1), p.L1
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae109b
ISSN: 2041-8205
eISSN: 2041-8213
Publisher: IOP Publishing Ltd
Number of pages: 5
Grant note: PHY-2309135 / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) 80NSSC18K1726 / National Science Foundation (NSF)https://doi.org/10.13039/100000001; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Language: English
Date published: 11/01/2025
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9985224319202771

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