Related papers: Physics of relativistic shocks
A case of two interpenetrating, cold and quasi-neutral ion-electron plasmas is investigated with the multi-fluid approach. We consider that one plasma flows quasi-parallel to the lines of a background magnetic field embedded in another…
A collisionless shock wave is treated as a streaming plasma instability in the interstellar medium (ISM). We assume that in a steady state, this instability propagates through the ISM as a self-driven plasma instability, whereby the…
In continuation of previous work, numerical results are presented, concerning relativistically counter-streaming plasmas. Here, the relativistic mixed mode instability evolves through, and beyond, the linear saturation -- well into the…
Magnetospheres of neutron stars can be perturbed by star quakes, interaction in a binary system, or sudden collapse of the star. The perturbations are typically in the kHz band and excite magnetohydrodynamic waves. We show that compressive…
Gas in disk galaxies interacts nonlinearly with an underlying stellar spiral potential to form galactic spiral shocks. While numerical simulations typically show that spiral shocks are unstable to wiggle instability (WI) even in the absence…
In this paper, the first in a series, we present a new theoretical model for the global structure and dissipation of relativistically magnetized collisionless shock waves. Quite remarkably, we find that in contrast to unmagnetized shocks,…
The instabilities of relativistic ion beams in a relativistically hot electron background are derived for general propagation angles. It is shown that the Weibel instability in the direction perpendicular to the streaming direction is the…
We consider an imperfect relativistic fluid which develops a shock wave and discuss its structure and thickness, taking into account the effects of viscosity and heat conduction in the form of sound absorption. The junction conditions and…
We present in this paper both a linear study and numerical relativistic MHD simulations of the non-resonant streaming instability occurring in the precursor of relativistic shocks. In the shock front restframe, we perform a linear analysis…
When a moderately intense, few-picoseconds long laser pulse ionizes gas to produce an underdense plasma column, a linear relativistic plasma wave or wake can be excited by the self-modulation instability that may prove useful for…
We show that the relativistic two-stream instability can naturally generate strong magnetic fields with 1e-5 - 1e-1 of the equipartition energy density, in the collisionless shocks of Gamma-Ray-Burst (GRB) sources. The generated fields are…
In this thesis different numerical methods, as well as applications of the methods to a number of current problems in relativistic astrophysics, are presented. In the first part the theoretical foundation and numerical implementation of a…
Relativistic magnetohydrodynamic shocks are efficient particle accelerators, often invoked in the models of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and shock-powered fast radio bursts (FRBs). Most theoretical studies assume a perpendicular shock with an…
Relativistic flows resulting from sudden explosive events upscatter ambient interstellar photons of local radiation fields. For Lorentz factor $ > 100$ and dense optical - UV radiation fields the emergent signal is a typical gamma ray…
The outflows from gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei and relativistic jets in general interact with the surrounding media through collisionless shocks. With three dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations we investigate…
We investigated the precursor wave emission efficiency in magnetized purely perpendicular relativistic shocks in pair plasmas. We extended our previous study to include the dependence of upstream magnetic field orientations. We performed…
As a shock front interacts with turbulence, it develops corrugation which induces outgoing wave modes in the downstream plasma. For a fast shock wave, the incoming wave modes can either be fast magnetosonic waves originating from…
It is argued and demonstrated by particle-in-cell simulations that the synchrotron maser instability could develop at the front of a relativistic, magnetized shock. The instability generates strong low-frequency electromagnetic waves…
We present a scenario that could explain non-thermal particle acceleration in relativistic quasi-perpendicular electron-positron shocks, such as the termination shock of pulsar wind nebulae. The shock produces a strong electromagnetic…
We have investigated particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic jet propagating into an unmagnetized plasma. Strong magnetic fields generated in the trailing jet shock lead to transverse…