Test particle acceleration by rotating jet magnetospheres

Abstract

Centrifugal acceleration of charged test particles at the base of a rotating jet magnetosphere is considered. Based on an analysis of forces we derive the equation for the radial accelerated motion and present an analytical solution. It is shown that for particles moving outwards along rotating magnetic field lines, the energy gain is in particular limited by the breakdown of the bead-on-the-wire approximation which occurs in the vicinity of the light cylinder $r_{L}$. The corresponding upper limit for the maximum Lorentz factor $γ_{max}$ for electrons scales $\propto B^{2/3} r_{L}^{2/3}$, with $B$ the magnetic field strength at $r_{L}$, and is at most of the order of a $10^2-10^3$ for the conditions regarded to be typical for BL Lac objects. Such values suggest that this mechanism may provide pre-accelerated seed particles which are required for efficient Fermi-type particle acceleration at larger scales in radio jets.

4 pages, 1 figure; to appear in the Proc. of the Heidelberg International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy, Heidelberg, June 26-30, 2000, ed. by H.J. Voelk and F. Aharonian, AIP Conf. Proc