On the Possibility of Particle Acceleration in Shock Waves in WR Nebulae

Based on the analogy between WR nebulae, on one hand, and the heliosphere and expanding remnants of supernovae, on the other, the differential fluxes of energetic protons accelerated in shock waves to energies of 100 MeV are calculated. The standard analytic theory of acceleration under conditions o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysics 2018-12, Vol.61 (4), p.469-482
Main Author: Yeghikyan, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Astronomical research
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Astrophysics and Astroparticles
Astrophysics and Cosmology
Computational fluid dynamics
Energetic particles
Fluid flow
Fluxes
Galactic disk
Heliosphere
Low temperature
Magnetohydrodynamics
Mathematical analysis
Nebulae
Observations and Techniques
Organic chemistry
Parameter estimation
Particle acceleration
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Radiation
Radiation dosage
Shock waves
Space Exploration and Astronautics
Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics
Supernova
Supernova remnants
Supernovae
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Summary:Based on the analogy between WR nebulae, on one hand, and the heliosphere and expanding remnants of supernovae, on the other, the differential fluxes of energetic protons accelerated in shock waves to energies of 100 MeV are calculated. The standard analytic theory of acceleration under conditions of quasi-parallel magnetohydrodynamic shock waves was used. The acceleration time and the diffusion time for the energetic particles are in good agreement with one another and with the characteristic dynamic time for WR nebulae. A single-parameter formula is proposed for estimating the intensity (flux) of the accelerated particles under heliospheric conditions and is in good agreement with data from Voyager-1 at 1 MeV to within a factor of less than 2. The estimated fluxes for the conditions in WR nebulae are 4-6 orders of magnitude greater than the average over the galactic disk. The relatively low temperatures observed in the x-ray range for the perturbed regions near a shock wave may be related to the acceleration efficiency coefficient for the particles, as this has long been used to interpret analogous observations of supernova remnants. The resulting fluxes of energetic protons are used to estimate the radiation dose to complex carbon-containing systems in nebular dust and indicate that accelerated particles may play an important role in radiation-chemical transformations in WR nebulae.
ISSN:0571-7256
1573-8191
DOI:10.1007/s10511-018-9551-8