Very High Mach Number Electrostatic Shocks in Collisionless Plasmas
Plasma Physics
2009-11-11 v1 Astrophysics
Abstract
The kinetic theory of collisionless electrostatic shocks resulting from the collision of plasma slabs with different temperatures and densities is presented. The theoretical results are confirmed by self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations, revealing the formation and stable propagation of electrostatic shocks with very high Mach numbers (), well above the predictions of the classical theories for electrostatic shocks.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0512231,
title = {Very High Mach Number Electrostatic Shocks in Collisionless Plasmas},
author = {G. Sorasio and M. Marti and R. Fonseca and L. O. Silva},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0512231},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
6 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett