Dust-driven streaming instability and magnetic field amplification downstream of supernova remnant shocks

Abstract

The acceleration of cosmic rays up to PeV energies at supernova remnant shocks requires an amplification of the ambient magnetic field. The amplification mechanism must operate upstream of the shock, to prevent the escape of particles from the system. Observational evidence of field amplification has been indeed obtained by means of X-ray observations. However, such observations constrain the magnetic field strength downstream of the shock only. Here we describe a mechanism for magnetic field amplification that operates downstream of the shock. It is based on a plasma instability triggered by the drift of charged interstellar dust grains overtaken by the shock. We compute the growth rate of the instability, we estimate the level of magnetic field amplification expected downstream of supernova remnant shocks, and we compare our results with observations. In some cases (most notably Cas~A) this mechanism might explain the presence of the X-ray filaments observed at supernova remnant shocks, without requiring any amplification of the magnetic field upstream of the shock and therefore no acceleration of CRs to ultra-high energies.