Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Astrophysics and Astronomy

PDF

Articles

Series

2009

Giant radio galaxies

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Stochastic Particle Acceleration In The Lobes Of Giant Radio Galaxies, Stephen O'Sullivan, Brian Reville, Andrew Taylor Sep 2009

Stochastic Particle Acceleration In The Lobes Of Giant Radio Galaxies, Stephen O'Sullivan, Brian Reville, Andrew Taylor

Articles

We investigate the acceleration of particles by Alfv ́en waves via the second-order Fermi process in the lobes of giant radio galaxies. Such sites are candidates for the accelerators of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR). We focus on the nearby Fanaroff–Riley type I radio galaxy Centaurus A. This is motivated by the coincidence of its position with the arrival direction of several of the highest energy Auger events. The conditions necessary for consistency with the acceleration time-scales predicted by quasi-linear theory are reviewed. Test particle calculations are performed in fields which guarantee electric fields with no component parallel to the local …