Institute for Advanced Study Astrophysics Seminar

Turbulence is common in astrophysical environments and is often invoked to explain the origin of non-thermal particles in various sources. However, the mechanisms responsible for accelerating particles to high non-thermal energies remain poorly understood. Recent first-principles fully-kinetic simulations suggest that magnetic reconnection layers, self-consistently formed in magnetized turbulence, play a critical role in particle injection. Following injection, non-resonant scattering off turbulent fluctuations generates extended non-thermal power-law tails. Electrons and ions are energized differently, with electron energization accompanied by significant energy-dependent pitch-angle anisotropy. Understanding the pitch-angle distribution is essential for interpreting the radiation emitted by these particles. I will discuss the implications of pitch-angle anisotropies in astrophysical plasmas and explore how highly magnetized turbulence may contribute to high-energy neutrino production from active galactic nucleus coronae and the acceleration of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays in relativistic jets.