Nonthermal Processes and Particle Acceleration in Supernova Remnants

Shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs) accelerate charged particles up to ~100 TeV range via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) mechanism. It is believed that shocks of SNRs are the main contributors to the pool of Galactic cosmic rays, although it is still under debate whether they can accelerate particles up to the “knee” energy (10^15.5 eV) or not. In this chapter, we start with introducing SNRs as likely sources of cosmic rays and the radiation mechanisms associated with cosmic rays (Section “SNRs as the Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays”). In Section “The Mechanism of Diffusive Shock Acceleration”, we summarize the mechanism for particle acceleration, including basic diffusive shock acceleration and nonlinear effects, as well as discussing the injection problem. Section “X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Evidence for Cosmic-Ray Acceleration” is devoted to the X-ray and gamma-ray observations of nonthermal emission from SNRs, and what these reveal about the cosmic-ray acceleration properties of SNRs.