Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) may be produced in active galactic nuclei (AGN) or gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets. I argue that magnetic reconnection in jets can accelerate UHECRs rather independently of physical processes in the magnetic dissipation region. First order Fermi acceleration can efficiently take place in the region where the unreconnected (upstream) magnetized fluid converges into the reconnection layer. I find that protons can reach energies up to E~10^{20} eV in GRB and powerful AGN jets while iron nuclei can reach similar energies in AGN jets of more moderate luminosity.
Espresso is a novel acceleration model for Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), where lower-energy CRs produced in supernova remnants experience a one-shot reacceleration in the relativistic jets of powerful Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) to reach energies up to $10^{20}$ eV. To test the espresso framework, we follow UHECR acceleration bottom-up from injection to the highest energies by propagating 100,000 particles in realistic 3D magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of ultra-relativistic jets. We find that simulations agree well with analytical expectations in terms of trajectories of in…
We demonstrate that a population of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) can describe the observed spectrum of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at and above the ankle, and that the dominant contribution comes from low-luminosity BL Lacs. An additional, subdominant contribution from high-luminosity AGN is needed to improve the description of the composition observables, leading to a substantial neutrino flux that peaks at EeV energies. We also find that different properties for the low- and high-luminosity AGN populations are required; a possibly similar baryonic loading can already be excluded f…
We propose a novel model to produce ultrahigh-energy cosmic-rays (UHECRs) in gamma-ray burst jets. After the prompt gamma-ray emission, hydrodynamical turbulence is excited in the GRB jets at or before the afterglow phase. The mildly relativistic turbulence stochastically accelerates protons. The acceleration rate is much slower than the usual first-order shock acceleration rate, but in this case it can be energy-independent. The resultant UHECR spectrum is so hard that the bulk energy is concentrated in the highest energy range, resulting in a moderate requirement for the typical cosmic ray l…
We present a bottom-up calculation of the flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and high-energy neutrinos produced by powerful jets of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). By propagating test particles in 3D relativistic magnetohydrodynamic jet simulations, including a Monte Carlo treatment of sub-grid pitch-angle scattering and attenuation losses due to realistic photon fields, we study the spectrum and composition of the accelerated UHECRs and estimate the amount of neutrinos produced in such sources. We find that UHECRs may not be significantly affected by photodisintegration in AGN jets…
Observations of the spectacular, blazar-like tidal disruption event (TDE) candidates Swift J1644+57 and J2058+05 show that the conditions required for accelerating protons to 10^{20} eV appear to be realized in the outer jet, and possibly in the inner jet as well. Direct and indirect estimates of the rate of jetted-TDEs, and of the energy they inject, are compatible with the observed flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and the abundance of presently contributing sources. Thus TDE-jets can be a major source of UHECRs, even compabile with a pure proton composition.
We study the expansion of low density cavities produced by Active Galactic Nuclei jets in clusters of galaxies. The long term stability of these cavities requires the presence of linked magnetic fields. We find solutions describing the self-similar expansion of structures containing large-scale electromagnetic fields. Unlike the force-free spheromak-like configurations, these solutions have no surface currents and, thus, are less susceptible to resistive decay. The cavities are internally confined by external pressure, with zero gradient at the surface. If the adiabatic index of the plasma wit…
In Mbarek & Caprioli (2019), we laid the groundwork for studying the espresso paradigm Caprioli (2015), a reacceleration mechanism to boost galactic CRs to UHECR levels. Our bottom-up approach uses realistic 3D MHD simulations of relativistic AGN jets and accounts for all of the crucial ingredients of a universal acceleration theory: injection, acceleration, and escape in realistic environments. Our results are consistent with the main features of UHECR spectra, i.e., power-law slopes, chemical composition, and anisotropy. In Mbarek & Caprioli (2021), we refine our model by including sub-grid …
Fast magnetic reconnection events can play an important role in accretion disk systems. A potential model to explain the non-thermal very-high-energy (VHE) emission (from GeV to TeV) observed in black-hole binaries (BHBs) and Active Galatic Nuclei (AGNs) can be attributed to fast magnetic reconnection induced in the turbulent corona of accretion disks and/or jets. In this work, we will discuss the results of global general relativistic MHD (GRMHD) simulations of accretion disks around black holes, whose turbulence is naturally driven by MHD instabilities, such as the magnetorotational instabil…
Observations of gamma-ray-bursts and jets from active galactic nuclei reveal that the jet flow is characterized by a high radiative efficiency and that the dissipative mechanism must be a powerful accelerator of non-thermal particles. Shocks and magnetic reconnection have long been considered as possible candidates for powering the jet emission. Recent progress via fully-kinetic particle-in-cell simulations allows us to revisit this issue on firm physical grounds. We show that shock models are unlikely to account for the jet emission. In fact, when shocks are efficient at dissipating energy, t…
Using the three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic code RAISHIN, we investigated the influence of radial density profile on the spatial development of the current-driven kink instability along magnetized rotating, relativistic jets. For the purpose of our study, we used a non-periodic computational box, the jet flow is initially established across the computational grid, and a precessional perturbation at the inlet triggers the growth of the kink instability. We studied light as well as heavy jets with respect to the environment depending on the density profile. Different angular vel…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their relativistic jets are believed to be potential sites of ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic ray acceleration. This paper reviews basic observational findings as well as requirements on source energetics, and then discusses the relevance of different acceleration sites and mechanisms, such as black hole gap, shock in back-flows or jet shear acceleration. When put in context, the result suggests that Fermi-type particle acceleration at trans-relativistic shocks and/or in shearing, relativistic flows offers the most promising framework for UHECR production in AGN…
Particle acceleration by magnetic reconnection is now recognized as an important process in magnetically dominated regions of galactic and extragalactic black hole sources. This process helps to solve current puzzles specially related to the origin of the very high energy flare emission in these sources. In this review, we discuss this acceleration mechanism and show recent analytical studies and multidimensional numerical SRMHD and GRMHD (special and general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical) simulations with the injection of test particles, which help us to understand this process both in r…
We study the kinetic plasma dynamics in collisionless relativistic jets with velocity shear, by carrying out particle-in-cell simulations in the transverse plane of a jet. It is discovered that intermittent magnetic reconnections (MRs) are driven by Mushroom instability (MI), which is an important kinetic-scale plasma instability in the plasma shear-flows with relativistic bulk speed. We refer to this sequence of kinetic plasma phenomena as "MI-driven MR". The MI-driven MRs intermittently occur with moving the location of the reconnection points from the vicinity of the initial velocity-shear …
Variability is a general property of accretion discs and their associated jets. We introduce a semi-analytic model for particle acceleration and radio jet/lobe evolution and explore the effect of Myr timescale jet variability on the particles accelerated by an AGN jet. Our work is motivated by the need for local powerful ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) sources and evidence for variability in AGN and radio galaxies. Our main results are: i) UHECR and nonthermal radiative luminosities track the jet power but with a response set by the escape and cooling times, respectively; ii) jet variabili…
The multi-wavelength spectral and temporal variability observed in blazars set tight constraints on current theoretical emission models. Here, we investigate the relativistic magnetic reconnection process as a source of blazar emission in which quasi-spherical plasmoids, containing relativistic particles and magnetic fields, are associated with the emission sites in blazar jets. By coupling recent two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of relativistic reconnection with a time-dependent radiative transfer code, we compute the non-thermal emission from a chain of plasmoids formed during a …
Magnetic reconnection is often invoked to explain the non-thermal radiation of relativistic outflows, including jets of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Motivated by the largely unknown plasma composition of AGN jets, we study reconnection in the unexplored regime of electron-positron-proton (pair-proton) plasmas with large-scale two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We cover a wide range of pair multiplicities (lepton-to-proton number ratio $κ=1-199$) for different values of the all-species plasma magnetization ($σ=1,3$ and 10) and electron temperature ($Θ_e\equiv kT_e/m_ec^2=0.1-100$). …
We study the acceleration of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at FR-II radio galaxies by performing Monte Carlo simulations for the transport, scattering, and energy change of the CR particles injected into the time-evolving jet flows that are realized through relativistic hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations. Toward that end, we adopt physically motivated models for the magnetic field and particle scattering. By identifying the primary acceleration process among diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), turbulent shear acceleration (TSA), and relativistic shear acceleration (RSA), we find that CRs …
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and their relativistic jets belong to the most promising class of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) accelerators. This compact review summarises basic experimental findings by recent instruments, and discusses possible interpretations and astrophysical constraints on source energetics. Particular attention is given to potential sites and mechanisms of UHECR acceleration in AGNs, including gap-type particle acceleration close to the black hole, as well as first-order Fermi acceleration at trans-relativistic shocks and stochastic shear particle acceleration in la…
It has been proposed that Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) up to $10^{20}$eV could be produced in the relativistic jets of powerful Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) via a one-shot reacceleration of lower-energy CRs produced in supernova remnants (the $\textit{espresso}$ mechanism). We test this theory by propagating particles in realistic 3D magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of ultra-relativistic jets and find that about $10\%$ of the CRs entering the jet are boosted by at least a factor of $\simΓ^2$ in energy, where $Γ$ is the jet's effective Lorentz factor, in agreement with the analytical…
Particle acceleration in magnetized relativistic jets still puzzles theorists, specially when one tries to explain the highly variable emission observed in blazar jets or gamma-ray bursts putting severe constraints on current models. In this work we investigate the acceleration of particles injected in a three-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamical jet subject to current driven kink instability (CDKI), which drives turbulence and fast magnetic reconnection. Test protons injected in the nearly stationary snapshots of the jet, experience an exponential acceleration up to a maximum energy…
It is commonly believed that blazar jets are relativistic magnetized plasma outflows from supermassive black holes. One key question is how the jets dissipate magnetic energy to accelerate particles and drive powerful multi-wavelength flares. Relativistic magnetic reconnection has been proposed as the primary plasma physical process in the blazar emission region. Recent numerical simulations have shown strong acceleration of nonthermal particles that may lead to multi-wavelength flares. Nevertheless, previous works have not directly evaluated $γ$-ray signatures from first-principle simulations…
The ubiquitous relativistic jet phenomena associated with black holes play a major role in high and very-high-energy (VHE) astrophysics. In particular, observations have demonstrated that blazars show VHE emission with time-variability from days (in the GeV band) to minutes (in the TeV band), implying very compact emission regions. The real mechanism able to explain the particle acceleration process responsible for this emission is still debated, but magnetic reconnection has been lately discussed as a strong potential candidate and, in some circumstances, as the only possible one. In this wor…
In the espresso scenario, ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic rays (CRs) are produced via a one-shot reacceleration of galactic-like CRs in the relativistic jets of active galactic nuclei, independently of the scattering rate dictated by magnetic fluctuations. In Mbarek & Caprioli (2019), we traced test-particle CRs in high-resolution magnetohyrodynamic (MHD) jet simulations and found that the associated spectral slope, chemical composition, and anisotropy are consistent with UHECR phenomenology. In this work, we extend such an analysis by including sub-grid pitch-angle scattering to model small-sc…
We perform 3D relativistic ideal MHD simulations to study the collisions between high-$σ$ (Poynting-flux-dominated) blobs which contain both poloidal and toroidal magnetic field components. This is meant to mimic the interactions inside a highly variable Poynting-flux-dominated jet. We discover a significant electromagnetic field (EMF) energy dissipation with an Alfvénic rate with the efficiency around 35\%. Detailed analyses show that this dissipation is mostly facilitated by the collision-induced magnetic reconnection. Additional resolution and parameter studies show a robust result that the…
Blazars are relativistic magnetized plasma outflows from supermassive black holes that point very close to our line of sight. Their emission is nonthermal dominated and highly variable across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Relativistic magnetic reconnection has been proposed as the driver of particle acceleration during blazar flares. While recent particle-in-cell simulations have self-consistently studied the evolution of magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration therein, the resulting radiation signatures have not been systematically explored. In particular, the polarization sign…
We have investigated particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic jet propagating into an unmagnetized plasma. Strong magnetic fields generated in the trailing jet shock lead to transverse deflection and acceleration of the electrons. We have self-consistently calculated the radiation from the electrons accelerated in the turbulent magnetic fields. We find that the synthetic spectra depend on the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet, the jet temperature, and the strength of the magnetic fields generated in the shock. We have also begun study of electron acce…
Supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei launch relativistic jets, as indicated by observed superluminal radio blobs. The energy source of these jets is widely discussed in the theoretical framework of Blandford-Znajek process, the electromagnetic energy extraction from rotating black holes (BHs), while formation mechanism of the radio blobs in the electromagnetically-dominated jets has been a long-standing problem. Recent high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetically arrested disks exhibited magnetic reconnection in a transient magnetically-dominated part of the eq…
We investigate with relativistic MHD simulations the dissipation physics of BL Lac jets, by studying the synchrotron polarization signatures of particles accelerated by the kink instability in a magnetically-dominated plasma column. The nonlinear stage of the kink instability generates current sheets, where particles can be efficiently accelerated via magnetic reconnection. We identify current sheets as regions where s = J d/B is above some predefined threshold (where B is the field strength, J the current density and d the grid scale), and assume that the particle injection efficiency scales …
We calculate the severe radiative energy losses which occur at the base of black hole jets using a relativistic fluid jet model, including in-situ acceleration of non-thermal leptons by magnetic reconnection. Our results demonstrate that including a self-consistent treatment of radiative energy losses is necessary to perform accurate MHD simulations of powerful jets and that jet spectra calculated via post-processing are liable to vastly overestimate the amount of non-thermal emission. If no more than 95% of the initial total jet power is radiated away by the plasma travels as it travels along…
This is the fourth in a series of companion papers showing that, when an efficient dynamo can be maintained by accretion disks around supermassive black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), it will lead to the formation of a powerful, magnetically-collimated helix that could explain both the observed jet/radiolobe structures on very large scales and ultimately the enormous power inferred from the observed ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with energies > 10^19 eV. Many timescales are involved in this process. Our hyper-resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model provides a bridge between…
One of the fundamental properties of astrophysical magnetic fields is their ability to change topology through reconnection and in doing so, to release magnetic energy, sometimes violently. In this work, we review recent results on the role of magnetic reconnection and associated heating and particle acceleration in jet/accretion disk systems, namely young stellar objects (YSOs), microquasars, and active galactic nuclei (AGNs).
Rapid and luminous flares of non-thermal radiation observed in blazars require an efficient mechanism of energy dissipation and particle acceleration in relativistic active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. Particle acceleration in relativistic magnetic reconnection is being actively studied by kinetic numerical simulations. Relativistic reconnection produces hard power-law electron energy distributions N(gamma) = N_0 gamma^(-p) exp(-gamma/gamma_max) with index p -> 1 and exponential cut-off Lorentz factor gamma_max ~ sigma in the limit of magnetization sigma = B^2/(4 pi w) >> 1 (where w is the rela…
Powerful radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) with large Mpc-scale jets have been theoretically motivated as emitters of high-energy cosmic rays. Recent radio observations have established a populous class of young radio-loud galaxies with compact ($< 1$ kpc) symmetric jets that are morphologically similar to large-scale AGNs. We show that these compact AGNs, so-called compact symmetric objects (CSOs), can accelerate protons up to $10^{20}$ eV at their hot spots via a Fermi type mechanism on the assumption of efficient acceleration. The required magnetic field strengths are comparable to th…
Context. Converging flows with strong magnetic fields of different polarity can accelerate particles through magnetic reconnection. If the particle mean free path is longer than the reconnection layer is thick, but much shorter than the entire reconnection structure, the particle will mostly interact with the incoming flows potentially with a very low escape probability. Aims. We explore, in general and also in some specific scenarios, the possibility of particles to be accelerated in a magnetic reconnection layer by interacting only with the incoming flows. Methods. We characterize converging…
The origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is a half-century old enigma (Linsley 1963). The mystery has been deepened by an intriguing coincidence: over ten orders of magnitude in energy, the energy generation rates of UHECRs, PeV neutrinos, and isotropic sub-TeV gamma rays are comparable, which hints at a grand-unified picture (Murase and Waxman 2016). Here we report that powerful black hole jets in aggregates of galaxies can supply the common origin of all of these phenomena. Once accelerated by a jet, low-energy cosmic rays confined in the radio lobe are adiabatically cooled; highe…
Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have been one of the most widely discussed sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The recent results of Pierre Auger observatory (PAO) have indicated a possible composition change of UHECRs above ~10^{18.5} eV towards heavy nuclei. We show here that if indeed UHECRs are largely heavy nuclei, then nearby radio quiet AGNs can also be viable sources of UHECRs. We derive constraints on the acceleration sites which enable acceleration of UHECRs to 10^{20} eV without suffering losses. We show that the acceleration of UHECRs and the survival of energetic heavy…
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) by supermassive or intermediate mass black holes have been suggested as candidate sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and high-energy neutrinos. Motivated by the recent measurements from the Pierre Auger Observatory, which indicates a metal-rich cosmic-ray composition at ultrahigh energies, we investigate the fate of UHECR nuclei loaded in TDE jets. First, we consider the production and survival of UHECR nuclei at internal shocks, external forward and reverse shocks, and nonrelativistic winds. Based on the observations of Swift J1644+57, we show that…
Magnetic reconnection in relativistic collisionless plasmas can accelerate particles and power high-energy emission in various astrophysical systems. Whereas most previous studies focused on relativistic reconnection in pair plasmas, less attention has been paid to electron-ion plasma reconnection, expected in black hole accretion flows and relativistic jets. We report a comprehensive particle-in-cell numerical investigation of reconnection in an electron-ion plasma, spanning a wide range of ambient ion magnetizations $σ_i$, from the semirelativistic regime (ultrarelativistic electrons but non…
TeV gamma-ray spectral spikes produced by magnetic reconnection in blazar jets: the case of the 2014 high state of Markarian 501
Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas（巴西中央物理研究中心）；Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas（圣保罗大学天文、地球物理与大气科学研究所）；Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo (IMP)（墨西哥石油研究所）
We study the evolution of kink instability in a force-free, non-rotating plasma column of high magnetization. The main dissipation mechanism is identified as reconnection of magnetic field-lines with various intersection angles, driven by the compression of the growing kink lobes. We measure dissipation rates ${\rm d} U_{Bϕ}/{{\rm d}t} \approx -0.1 U_{Bϕ}/τ$, where $τ$ is the linear growth time of the kink instability. This value is consistent with the expansion velocity of the kink mode, which drives the reconnection. The relaxed state is close to a force-free Taylor state. We constraint the …
One of the key questions in the study of relativistic jets is how magnetic reconnection occurs and whether it can effectively accelerate electrons in the jet. We performed 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of a relativistic electron-proton jet of relatively large radius that carries a helical magnetic field. We focussed our investigation on the interaction between the jet and the ambient plasma and explore how the helical magnetic field affects the excitation of kinetic instabilities such as the Weibel instability (WI), the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (kKHI), and the mushroom inst…
By means of two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the process of driven magnetic reconnection at the termination shock of relativistic striped flows. In pulsar winds and in magnetar-powered relativistic jets, the flow consists of stripes of alternating magnetic field polarity, separated by current sheets of hot plasma. At the wind termination shock, the flow compresses and the alternating fields annihilate by driven magnetic reconnection. Irrespective of the stripe wavelength "lambda" or the wind magnetization "sigma" (in the regime sigma>>1 of magnetically-do…
At highest energy edges Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray, (UHECR) and PeVs neutrino (UHE neutrino), should soon offer new exciting astronomy. The fast and somehow contradictory growth of hundred of antagonist models shows the explosive vitality of those new astronomy frontiers. No conclusive understanding on the UHECR and UHE neutrino source are at hand. The earliest expectation of GRBs (as a one shoot Fireball model) as the main (UHE neutrino) sources has been rejected. The source of UHECR as the expected GZK ones within our Super-Galactic Plane (within few tens Mpc) it has been quite disproved. …
Rapid gamma-ray flares pose an astrophysical puzzle, requiring mechanisms both to accelerate energetic particles and to produce fast observed variability. These dual requirements may be satisfied by collisionless relativistic magnetic reconnection. On the one hand, relativistic reconnection can energize gamma-ray emitting electrons. On the other, as previous kinetic simulations have shown, the reconnection acceleration mechanism preferentially focuses high-energy particles -- and their emitted photons -- into beams, which may create rapid blips in flux as they cross a telescope's line of sight…
The fast TeV variability of the blazars Mrk 501 and PKS 2155--304 implies a compact emitting region that moves with a bulk Lorentz factor of Gamma_{em}~100 toward the observer. The Lorentz factor is clearly in excess of the jet Lorentz factors Gamma_j\simless 10 measured on sub-pc scales in these sources. We propose that the TeV emission originates from compact emitting regions that move relativistically {\it within} a jet of bulk Gamma_j~10. This can be physically realized in a Poynting flux-dominated jet. We show that if a large fraction of the luminosity of the jet is prone to magnetic diss…
We investigate the production of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) in relativistic jets from low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN). We start by proposing a model for the UHECR contribution from the black holes (BHs) in LLAGN, which present a jet power $P_{\mathrm{j}} \leqslant 10^{46}$ erg s$^{-1}$. This is in contrast to the opinion that only high-luminosity AGN can accelerate particles to energies $ \geqslant 50$ EeV. We rewrite the equations which describe the synchrotron self-absorbed emission of a non-thermal particle distribution to obtain the observed radio flux density from …
