Related papers: Relativistic generalization of formation and ion r…
Nonrelativistic electrostatic unmagnetized shocks are frequently observed in laboratory plasmas and they are likely to exist in astrophysical plasmas. Their maximum speed, expressed in units of the ion acoustic speed far upstream of the…
Astrophysical shocks are often collisionless shocks. An open question about collisionless shocks is whether electrons and ions each establish their own post-shock temperature, or whether they quickly equilibrate in the shock region. Here we…
An analytic solution describing an ion-acoustic collisionless shock, self-consistently with the evolution of shock-reflected ions, is obtained. The solution extends the classic soliton solution beyond a critical Mach number, where the…
The existence and properties of low Mach-number ($M \gtrsim 1$) electrostatic collisionless shocks are investigated with a semi-analytical solution for the shock structure. We show that the properties of the shock obtained in the…
We model relativistically colliding plasma by PIC simulations in one and two spatial dimensions, taking an ion-to-electron mass ratio of 400. Energy dissipation by a wave precursor of mixed polarity and different densities of the colliding…
An extreme case of electron shock drift acceleration in low Mach number collisionless shocks is investigated as a plausible mechanism of initial acceleration of relativistic electrons in large-scale shocks in galaxy clusters where upstream…
Weakly magnetized shock waves are paramount to a large diversity of environments, including supernova remnants, blazars, and binary-neutron-star mergers. Understanding the distribution of energy between electrons and ions within these…
A minority relativistic electron component can arise in both laboratory and naturally-occurring plasmas. In the presence of high-atomic-number ion species, the ion charge state distribution at low bulk electron temperature can be dominated…
The formation of unmagnetized electrostatic shock-like structures with a high Mach number is examined with one- and two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The structures are generated through the collision of two identical…
Mildly relativistic shocks in magnetized electron-ion plasmas are investigated with 2D kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of unprecedentedly high resolution and large scale for conditions that may be found at internal shocks in blazar…
The electric permittivities and magnetic permeabilities for a relativistic electron gas are calculated from quantum electrodynamics at finite temperature and density as functions of temperature, chemical potential, frequency, and…
The collisional coupling of relativistic electrons and non-relativistic ions in hot plasmas has been analysed. It is found that relativistic effects produce a new feature: while the condition T_e<3T_i guarantees a stable collisional…
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…
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…
Multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are used to study the generation of electrostatic shocks in plasma and the reflection of background ions to produce high-quality and high-energy ion beams. Electrostatic shocks are driven by…
We study the stability properties of hydrodynamic shocks with finite Mach numbers. The linear analysis supplements previous analyses which took the strong shock limit. We derive the linearised equations for a general specific heat ratio as…
Laser-driven collisonless electrostatic shock formation and the subsequent ion acceleration have been studied in near critical density plasmas. Particle-in-cell simulations show that both the speed of laser-driven collisionless…
Particle acceleration and heating at mildly relativistic magnetized shocks in electron-ion plasma are investigated with unprecedentedly high-resolution two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that include ion-scale shock rippling.…
Shocks are a universal feature of the lower solar atmosphere which consists of both ionised and neutral species. Including partial ionisation leads to a finite-width existing for shocks, where the ionised and neutral species decouple and…
We analyse the full shock formation process in electron-ion plasmas in theory and simulations. It is accepted that electromagnetic shocks in initially unmagnetised relativistic plasmas are triggered by the filamentation instability.…