A Relativistic Electron-Positron Outflow from a Tepid Fireball
Loading...
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Description
Through detailed numerical simulations, we demonstrate that relativistic outflows (Lorentz factor $Γ\sim 7$) of electron-positron pairs can be produced by radiative acceleration even when the flow starts from a nearly pair equilibrium state at subrelativistic temperatures. Contrary to the expectation that pairs annihilate during an expansion stage for such low temperatures, we find that most pairs can survive for the situations obtained in our previous work. This is because in the outflow-generating region the dynamical timescale is short enough even though the fireball is optically thick to scattering. Several problems that should be solved to apply to actual active galactic nucleus jets are discussed.
11 pages, 4 figures, ApJL 690, L81
11 pages, 4 figures, ApJL 690, L81