Particle Acceleration in Accreting Magnetospheres
Katz, J. I., & Smith, I. A.
We consider the possibility that energetic protons are accelerated within
the closed magnetosphere of accreting neutron stars.
The accelerating mechanism is suggested to be plasma turbulence excited by
the accretion flow.
Rough estimates show that this mechanism may be capable of accelerating
protons to the energies of about 10^16 eV required to explain observations
of 10^15 eV gamma rays from some thermal X-ray sources.
Proton synchrotron radiation may be observable at energies ranging from
the infrared to GeV gamma rays.
Status:
1988, ApJ, 326, 733.
Download pdf file.