Relaxation of Blazar Induced Pair Beams in Cosmic Voids

TL;DR

This study investigates the stability of ultra-relativistic pair beams from blazars in cosmic voids, finding that nonlinear damping and cosmic inhomogeneities prevent significant beam-induced plasma instabilities, thus minimally affecting the intergalactic medium.

Contribution

The paper combines Monte Carlo simulations with kinetic theory to demonstrate the stability of blazar-induced pair beams against plasma instabilities in cosmic voids.

Findings

Beam relaxation timescales are longer than inverse Compton loss times.

Nonlinear Landau damping suppresses plasma wave growth.

Cosmic inhomogeneities inhibit resonance and instability growth.

Abstract

The stability properties of a low density ultra relativistic pair beam produced in the intergalactic medium by multi-TeV gamma-ray photons from blazars are analyzed. The problem is relevant for probes of magnetic field in cosmic voids through gamma-ray observations. In addition, dissipation of such beams could affect considerably the thermal history of the intergalactic medium and structure formation. We use a Monte Carlo method to quantify the properties of the blazar induced electromagnetic shower, in particular the bulk Lorentz factor and the angular spread of the pair beam generated by the shower, as a function of distance from the blazar itself. We then use linear and nonlinear kinetic theory to study the stability of the pair beam against the growth of electrostatic plasma waves, employing the Monte Carlo results for our quantitative estimates. We find that the fastest growing mode, like any perturbation mode with even a very modest component perpendicular to the beam direction, cannot be described in the reactive regime. Due to the effect of non-linear Landau damping, which suppresses the growth of plasma oscillations, the beam relaxation timescale is found significantly longer than the inverse Compton loss time. Finally, density inhomogeneities associated with cosmic structure induce loss of resonance between the beam particles and plasma oscillations, strongly inhibiting their growth. We conclude that relativistic pair beams produced by blazars in the intergalactic medium are stable on timescales long compared to the electromagnetic cascade's. There appears to be little or no effect of pair-beams on the intergalactic medium.