Related papers: Physics of collisionless shocks - theory and simul…
lasma instabilities excited in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle acceleration. We have investigated the particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic electron-positron jet propagating…
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 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…
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…
Particle acceleration at plasma shocks appears to be ubiquitous in the universe, spanning systems in the heliosphere, supernova remnants, and relativistic jets in distant active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. This review addresses some of…
We present a particle-in-cell simulation of the generation of a collisionless turbulent shock in a dense plasma driven by an ultra-high-intensity laser pulse. From the linear analysis, we highlight the crucial role of the laser-heated and…
Relativistic collisionless shocks in electron-ion plasma are thought to occur in the afterglow phase of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), and in other environments where relativistic flows interact with the interstellar medium. A particular regime…
One of the main features of astrophysical shocks is their ability to accelerate particles to extremely high energies. The leading acceleration mechanism, the diffusive shock acceleration is reviewed. It is demonstrated that its efficiency…
Energetic astrophysical phenomena, such as $\gamma$-ray bursts, supernova explosions, and magnetar flares occur in collisionless plasmas and involve various plasma kinetic and magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. In this paper, we explore the…
Collisionless shock waves, found in supernova remnants, interstellar, stellar, and planetary environments, and laboratories, are one of nature's most powerful particle accelerators. This study combines in situ satellite measurements with…
A collisionless shock may be strongly modified by the presence of neutral atoms through the processes of charge exchange between ions and neutrals and ionization of the latter. These two processes lead to exchange of energy and momentum…
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…
We present results of 2D3V particle-in-cell simulations of non-relativistic plasma collisions with absent or parallel large-scale magnetic field for parameters applicable to the conditions at young supernova remnants. We study the collision…
We present analysis of more than one hundred large-amplitude bipolar electrostatic structures in a quasi-perpendicular supercritical Earth's bow shock crossing, measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft. The occurrence of the…
Perpendicular collisionless shocks propagating into partially ionized plasmas are investigated by two-dimensional hybrid particle simulations. It is shown that some neutral particles leak into the upstream region from the downstream region,…
Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations have shown that relativistic collisionless shocks mediated by the Weibel instability accelerate about 1% of incoming particles, while the majority are transmitted through the shock and become thermalized.…
Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing relativistic jets and shocks, e.g., active galactic nuclei (AGNs), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and Galactic microquasar systems usually have power-law emission spectra. Recent…
We present evidence that relativistic shocks propagating in unmagnetized plasmas can self-consistently accelerate particles. We use long-term two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to study the well-developed shock structure in…
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…
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…