Bibcode
Horwitz, J. L.; Gallagher, D. L.; Perez, J.; Lieu, R.; Miller, J. A.; Preece, R.
Bibliographical reference
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, Volume 84, Issue 11, p. 99-100
Advertised on:
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2003
Citations
1
Refereed citations
1
Description
Natural acceleration of charged particles occurs within a variety of
physical contexts and through a range of physical processes.``Cosmic''
charged particle acceleration can involve particle energies and energy
changes from less than one electron Volt (eV), and on through kilovolt
(keV) energies, up to 1018 and perhaps 1020 eV. These acceleration
processes can be in the forms of various types of electric fields
directed parallel to the magnetic field lines, which are believed
chiefly responsible for the energization of the auroral electrons which
bombard the Earth's upper atmospheres at high magnetic latitudes to
create auroras. There are also ``collisionless'' shock layers in our
interplanetary space and well beyond, to energize charged particles in
solar and stellar winds. And there may be exotic-and somewhat
speculative-processes such as the effect of intense radiation beams
associated with non-thermal compact objects, or unipolar electric fields
of huge magnitudes near a rotating and accreting black hole. These
processes may accelerate particles to even 1020 eV energies. The
propagation of such ultra-high energy particles in time and space may be
severely modified by quantum gravity effects, which are no longer
negligible in these extreme situations.