Shock Waves, Particle Acceleration and Non-Thermal Emission

Abstract Some recent developments in the theory of particle acceleration at supernova shock fronts are reviewed and the confrontation of this theory with measurements of galactic cosmic rays and observations of supernova remnants is discussed. Supernova shock waves are able to account for the energetics, spectrum and composition of galactic cosmic rays, though it remains difficult to understand acceleration of ∼ 105 GeV particles. Recent developments in the analysis of interplanetary shock waves and in the numerical simulation of quasi-parallel shocks are encouraging. Interpretations of different categories of remnants are reviewed and a speculative interpretation of the optical companion to SN1987a is discussed.