MG11 
Talk detail
 

 Participant 

Institution

Session

Talk

Abstract

Theory of cosmic ray acceleration at relativistic shocks

We will review the theory of particle acceleration at relativistic shocks starting with the important role played by the nature of particle scattering near the shock front. In the ultra-relativistic hydrodynamic shock limit, and in the presence of isotropic pitch angle scattering, it has been shown that the spectral index takes the asymptotic value of 2.23. We discuss recent extensions of this result particularly the effect of self-consistent radiative losses, acceleration at multiple shocks and the role played by current driven instabilities.