Maximum Particle Energies by Fermi Acceleration and the Origin of Cosmic Rays above the Knee

2000/12/22 by C. D. Dermer, Charles D. Dermer, Dermer, Charles D.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0012490

4 pages, to appear in Proc. 27th ICRC (Hamburg, Germany)

openalex publication_date 2000/12/22 · arxiv created 2001/07/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We derive the maximum accelerated particle energy from first-order and second-order Fermi acceleration at nonrelativistic and relativistic shocks for explosions taking place in a uniform surrounding medium. Second-order stochastic processes in relativistic flows are shown to be capable of accelerating cosmic rays to ultra-high energies. Cosmic rays above the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum can be accelerated by the second-order Fermi mechanism in relativistic flows, such as those occuring in gamma-ray bursts and unusual supernovae like SN 1998bw.

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