On particle acceleration and trapping by Poynting flux dominated flows

Abstract

Using particle-in-cell simulations, we study the evolution of a strongly magnetized plasma slab propagating into a finite density ambient medium. Like in the previous work, we find that the slab breaks into discrete magnetic pulses. The subsequent evolution is consistent with diamagnetic relativistic pulse acceleration of (Liang E et al 2003 Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 085001). Unlike in the previous work, we use the actual electron to proton mass ratio and focus on understanding trapping versus transmission of the ambient plasma by the pulses and on the particle acceleration spectra. We find that the accelerated electron distribution internal to the slab develops a double-power law. We predict that emission from reflected/trapped external electrons will peak after that of the internal electrons. We also find that the thin discrete pulses trap ambient electrons but allow protons to pass through, resulting in less drag on the pulse than in the case of trapping of both species. Poynting flux dominated scenarios have been proposed as the driver of relativistic outflows and particle acceleration in the most powerful astrophysical jets.