Time-resolved characterization of the formation of a collisionless shock
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
2015-06-15 v1 Plasma Physics
Abstract
We report on the temporally and spatially resolved detection of the precursory stages that lead to the formation of an unmagnetized, supercritical collision-less shock in a laser-driven laboratory experiment. The measured evolution of the electrostatic potential associated with the shock unveils the transition from a current free double layer into a symmetric shock structure, stabilized by ion reflection at the shock front. Supported by a matching Particle-In-Cell simulation and theoretical considerations, we suggest that this process is analogeous to ion reflection at supercritical collisionless shocks in supernova remnants.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1304.6524,
title = {Time-resolved characterization of the formation of a collisionless shock},
author = {H Ahmed and ME Dieckmann and L Romagnani and D Doria and G Sarri and M Cherchez and E Ianni and I Kourakis and AL Giesecke and M Notley and R Prasad and K Quinn and O Willi and M Borghesi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.6524},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters