Related papers: Particle acceleration by collisionless shocks cont…
We derive a relativistically covariant (although not manifestly so) equation for the distribution function of particles accelerated at shocks, which applies also to extremely relativistic shocks, and arbitrarily anisotropic particle…
We investigate the acceleration of light particles in perpendicular shocks for plasmas consisting of a mixture of leptonic and hadronic particles. Starting from the full set of conservation equations for the mixed plasma constituents, we…
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…
Ab-initio numerical study of collisionless shocks in electron-ion unmagnetized plasmas is performed with fully relativistic particle in cell simulations. The main properties of the shock are shown, focusing on the implications for particle…
Context. Interplanetary (IP) shock waves offer an unparalleled opportunity to directly study the elusive mechanisms of particle acceleration that are pervasive in our Universe. Novel spacecraft missions, orbiting poorly-explored regions of…
Nonthermal acceleration of particles in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence plays a central role in a wide variety of astrophysical sites. This physics is addressed here in the context of a strong turbulence, composed of coherent…
We investigate the process of Diffusive Shock Acceleration (DSA) of particles with mass number to charge number ratios $A/Q > 1$, e.g., partially-ionized heavy ions. To this end, we introduce helium- and carbon-like ions at solar abundances…
Understanding the conditions conducive to particle acceleration at collisionless, non-relativistic shocks is important for the origin of cosmic rays. We use hybrid (kinetic ions -- fluid electrons) kinetic simulations to investigate…
Observations of gamma-ray burst afterglows suggest that the correlation length of magnetic field fluctuations downstream of relativistic non-magnetized collisionless shocks grows with distance from the shock to scales much larger than the…
Diffusion of colloidal particles in a complex environment such as polymer networks or biological cells is a topic of high complexity with significant biological and medical relevance. In such situations, the interaction between the…
Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., Buneman, Weibel and other two-stream instabilities) created in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle…
Shock waves propagating in collisionless heliospheric and astrophysical plasmas have been studied extensively over the decades. One prime motivation is to understand the nonthermal particle acceleration at shocks. Although the theory of…
Diffusive shock acceleration is a prominent mechanism for producing energetic particles in space and in astrophysical systems. Such energetic particles have long been predicted to affect the hydrodynamic structure of the shock, in turn…
A comprehensive review is given of the various processes proposed for accelerating particles by shocks to high energies. These energies are limited by several bounds: the non-relativistic nature of the heliospheric collisionless shocks to…
We analytically study diffusive particle acceleration in relativistic, collisionless shocks. We find a simple relation between the spectral index s and the anisotropy of the momentum distribution along the shock front. Based on this…
We have examined cutoffs and pile-ups due to various processes in the spectra of particles produced by shock acceleration, and found that, even in the absence of energy losses, the shape of the spectrum of accelerated particles at energies…
Collisionless relativistic shocks have been the focus of intense theoretical and numerical investigations in recent years. The acceleration of particles, the generation of electromagnetic microturbulence and the building up of a shock front…
Collisionless shocks are pervasive in astrophysics and they are critical to understand cosmic ray acceleration. Laboratory experiments with intense lasers are now opening the way to explore and characterise the underlying microphysics,…
Particle acceleration and magnetic field amplification in relativistic shocks propagating in inhomogeneous media are investigated by three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations and test-particle simulations. The MHD…
The origin of cosmic rays in our Galaxy remains a subject of active debate. While supernova remnant shocks are often invoked as the sites of acceleration, it is now widely accepted that the difficulties of such sources in reaching PeV…