Xiao Ting, Zhang Xiaomei, Kong Fanqiu, Zheng Xiaolong, Gong Zheng, Shen Baifei
Department of Physics, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 200234, China.
Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Aug;12(30):e03538. doi: 10.1002/advs.202503538. Epub 2025 Jun 5.
Understanding the mechanisms behind the extreme energies of cosmic rays is crucial for unraveling fundamental physical processes in astrophysical environments. This study proposes a novel mechanism for accelerating cosmic-ray protons. By examining a high-velocity collision between an astrophysical object and static magnetic fields, the generation of an intense transverse electric field capable of trapping and accelerating protons are find to relativistic energies. Through Hamiltonian analysis, a scaling law that correlates the proton energy is derived to the minimum longitudinal thickness of the relativistic electromagnetic shock required for acceleration. One-dimensional (1D) Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations show that an electromagnetic shock driver with a given intensity can accelerate protons from 4.7 MeV to 13 GeV, driven by the transverse electric field induce by the compressed static magnetic field. These results suggest that this mechanism can be experimentally realized in magnetized laser-plasma systems, offering a novel approach for studying astrophysical phenomena in controlled laboratory experiments.
了解宇宙射线极端能量背后的机制对于揭示天体物理环境中的基本物理过程至关重要。本研究提出了一种加速宇宙射线质子的新机制。通过研究天体物理物体与静磁场之间的高速碰撞，发现能够将质子捕获并加速到相对论能量的强横向电场的产生。通过哈密顿分析，推导出了将质子能量与加速所需的相对论电磁激波的最小纵向厚度相关联的标度律。一维（1D）粒子模拟表明，具有给定强度的电磁激波驱动器可以在压缩静磁场感应的横向电场驱动下，将质子从4.7兆电子伏特加速到13吉电子伏特。这些结果表明，这种机制可以在磁化激光等离子体系统中通过实验实现，为在可控实验室实验中研究天体物理现象提供了一种新方法。
