Related papers: The dynamic quasiperpendicular shock: Cluster disc…
A study of collisionless external shocks in gamma-ray bursts is presented. The shock structure, electromagnetic fields, and process of electron acceleration are assessed by performing a self-consistent 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation.…
Studies of shocks have long suggested that a shock can undergo cyclically self-reformation in a time scale of ion cyclotron period. This process has been proposed as a primary mechanism for energy dissipation and energetic particle…
Hot-cold ablative mixing plasmas are ubiquitous in astrophysical and laboratory systems, where a cold/dense plasma is roughly in pressure balance with a hot/dilute plasma. Examples include the plasma thermal quench during major disruptions…
Collisionless shocks play a role in many astrophysical phenomena, from coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the heliosphere to supernova remnants. Their role in heating and accelerating particles is well accepted yet the exact mechanism for ion…
A full particle simulation study is carried out on the electron acceleration at a collisionless, relatively low Alfven Mach number (M_A=5), perpendicular shock. Recent self-consistent hybrid shock simulations have demonstrated that the…
The identification of pre-acceleration mechanisms for cosmic ray ions in supernova remnant shocks is an important problem in astrophysics. Recent particle-in-cell (PIC) shock simulations have shown that inclusion of the full electron…
We study the physics of electron acceleration at collisionless shocks that move through a plasma containing large-scale magnetic fluctuations. We numerically integrate the trajectories of a large number of electrons, which are treated as…
We use kinetic hybrid simulations (kinetic ions - fluid electrons) to characterize the fraction of ions that are accelerated to non-thermal energies at non-relativistic collisionless shocks. We investigate the properties of the shock…
Collisionless shocks are ubiquitous structures throughout the universe. Shock waves in space and astrophysical plasmas convert the energy of a fast-flowing plasma to other forms of energy, including thermal and magnetic energies. Plasma…
We present laboratory results on energy partitioning from supercritical, magnetized collisionless shock experiments ($\rm{M_A} \sim 8$, $\rm{M_{ms}}\sim 4$). We report the first observation of fully-developed laboratory shocks that evolve…
It is shown that collisionless shock waves can be driven in unmagnetized electron-positron plasmas by performing a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. At the shock transition region, strong magnetic fields are generated by a…
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,…
Relativistic astrophysical collisionless shocks represent outstanding dissipation agents of the huge power of relativistic outflows produced by accreting black holes, core collapsed supernovae and other objects into multi-messenger…
Shock accelerated electrons are found in many astrophysical environments, and the mechanisms by which they are accelerated to high energies are still not completely clear. For relatively high Mach numbers, the shock is supercritical, and…
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,…
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…
High Mach number collisionless shocks are found in planetary systems and supernova remnants (SNRs). Electrons are heated at these shocks to the temperature well above the Rankine-Hugoniot prediction. However processes responsible for…
Electron acceleration mechanism at high Mach number collisionless shocks propagating in a weakly magnetized medium is investigated by a self-consistent two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. Simulation results show that strong…
Recent advances in the understanding of the properties of supernova remnant shocks have been precipitated by the Chandra and XMM X-ray Observatories, and the HESS Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope in the TeV band. A critical problem for this…
Understanding the conditions that enable particle acceleration at non-relativistic collisionless shocks is essential to unveil the origin of cosmic rays. We employ 2D and 3D hybrid simulations (with kinetic ions and fluid electrons) to…