Physics of relativistic shocks
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
2014-11-20 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract
Relativistic shocks are usually thought to occur in violent astrophysical explosions. These collisionless shocks are mediated by a plasma kinetic streaming instability, often loosely referred to as the Weibel instability, which generates strong magnetic fields "from scratch" very efficiently. In this review paper we discuss the shock micro-physics and present a recent model of "pre-conditioning" of an initially unmagnetized upstream region via the cosmic-ray-driven Weibel-type instability.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0909.3309,
title = {Physics of relativistic shocks},
author = {Mikhail V. Medvedev},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0909.3309},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
Subm. to proceedings of the Annual International Astrophysics Conference (AIAC-8), Hawaii, 2009