Conveners
Day 2 / Session 1
- Katharine Reeves (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Weak shocks are induced by mergers and/or supersonic flow motions in the hot tenuous intracluster medium (ICM) of galaxy clusters. Cosmic ray (CR) protons are expected to be accelerated at quasi-parallel shocks via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), whereas CR electrons are expected to be accelerated preferentially at quasi-perpendicular shocks. Reflection of incoming particles, and ensuing...
Particle acceleration and plasma heating are key aspects of energy release in solar flares. They are closely related to magnetic reconnection process. Evidence of non-thermal emissions are found not only in large flares, but also in microflares and even nanoflares, suggesting that energetic electrons play a central role in energy release and plasma heating in at least a large fraction of...
The hard X-ray emission seen from accreting black holes shows that some fraction of the gravitational energy is not thermalised in optically thick material, so gives a more direct view of the particle acceleration mechanism(s) in strong gravity. I will review how we can use these data to understand more about how particles are accelerated in the vicinity of the black hole.
