Massive particle production from accelerated sources in high magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper reviews how the acceleration of particles in extreme magnetic fields influences their production, highlighting that certain particle emissions are suppressed unless a specific acceleration threshold is exceeded.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the role of proper acceleration in particle production, especially in astrophysical environments like pulsar magnetospheres.

Findings

Proton accelerations in pulsar magnetospheres are below the pion production threshold.

Particle production is strongly suppressed if acceleration is below a certain threshold.

The acceleration scale determines the likelihood of massive particle emission.

Abstract

Non-electromagnetic emissions from high energy particles in extreme environments has been studied in the literature by using several variations of the semi-classical formalism. The detailed mechanisms behind such emissions are of great astrophysical interest since they can alter appreciably the associated energy loss rates. Here, we review the role played by the source proper acceleration $a$ in the particle production process. The acceleration $a$ determines the typical scale characterizing the particle production and, moreover, if the massive particle production is inertially forbidden, it will be strongly suppressed for $a$ below a certain threshold. In particular, we show that, for the case of accelerated protons in typical pulsar magnetospheres, the corresponding accelerations $a$ are far below the pion production threshold.