Open AccessSynchrotron emission from anisotropic disordered magnetic fields
Author(s) -
Laing R.A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05000.x
Subject(s) - physics , emissivity , synchrotron , magnetic field , anisotropy , synchrotron radiation , computational physics , astrophysics , electron , plasma , quantum mechanics
We derive expressions for the total and linearly polarized synchrotron emissivity of an element of plasma containing relativistic particles and disordered magnetic field that has been sheared or compressed along three independent directions. Our treatment follows that given by Matthews & Scheuer in the special case of a power‐law electron energy spectrum. We show that the emissivity integrals depend on a single parameter, making it straightforward to generate one‐dimensional look‐up tables. We also demonstrate that our formulae give identical results to those in the literature in special cases.