Related papers: Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Electron-Ion…
There are now more Particle-in-Cell (PIC) codes than ever before that researchers use to simulate intense laser-plasma interactions. To date, there have been relatively few direct comparisons of these codes in the literature, especially for…
The early acceleration of protons and electrons in the nonrelativistic collisionless shocks with three obliquities are investigated through 1D particle-in-cell simulations. In the simulations, the charged particles possessing a velocity of…
We review the physics of relativistic shocks, which are often invoked as the sources of non-thermal particles in pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets, and as possible sources of…
Astrophysical shocks are often studied in the high Mach number limit but weakly compressive fast shocks can occur in magnetic reconnection outflows and are considered to be a site of particle energization in solar flares. Here we study the…
Context: Typical space plasmas contain spatially and temporally variable turbulent electromagnetic fields. Understanding the transport of energetic particles and the acceleration mechanisms for charged particles is an important goal of…
In turbulent magnetized plasmas, charged particles can be accelerated to high energies through their interactions with the turbulent motions. As they do so, they draw energy from the turbulence, possibly up to the point where they start…
Advances in ultra-intense laser technology are enabling, for the first time, relativistic intensities at mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths. Anticipating further experimental research in this domain, we present high-resolution two…
We present the first three-dimensional fully kinetic electromagnetic relativistic particle-in-cell simulations of the collision of two interpenetrating plasma shells. The highly accurate plasma-kinetic "particle-in-cell" (with the total of…
Particle acceleration in collisionless plasma systems is a central question in astroplasma and astroparticle physics. The structure of the acceleration regions, electron-ion energy equilibration, preacceleration of particles at shocks to…
Non-thermal electron acceleration via magnetic reconnection is thought to play an important role in powering the variable X-ray emission from radiatively inefficient accretion flows around black holes. The trans-relativistic regime of…
Observations of synchrotron radiation across a wide range of wavelengths provide clear evidence that electrons are accelerated to relativistic energies in supernova remnants (SNRs). However, a viable mechanism for the pre-acceleration 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…
Electron motion in an oblique shock wave is studied by means of a one-dimensional, relativistic, electromagnetic, particle simulation code with full ion and electron dynamics. It is found that an oblique shock can produce electrons with…
Identified is a set of ballpark parameters for laser, plasma, and accelerator technologies that are defined for accelerated electron energies reaching as high as PeV. These parameters are carved out from the scaling laws that govern the…
Two extreme events in the universe, fast radio bursts (FRBs) and cosmic rays (CRs), could be correlated, where FRBs with extreme field strength near their sources may contribute to CRs. This study investigates localized particle…
Relativistic current sheets have been proposed as the sites of dissipation in pulsar winds, jets in active galaxies and other Poynting-flux dominated flows. It is shown that the steady versions of these structures differ from their…
We discuss how the electrons in relativistic GRB shocks can reach near-equipartition in energy with the protons. We emphasize the non-Fermi origin of such acceleration. We argue that the dynamics of the electrons in the foreshock region and…
In energetic nonthermal sources such as gamma-ray bursts, AGN or galactic jet sources, etc., one expects both relativistic and transrelativistic shocks acompanied by violent motions of moderately relativistic plasma. We present general…
First-principles particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is a powerful tool for understanding plasma behavior, but this power often comes at great computational expense. Artificially reducing the ion/electron mass ratio is a time-honored practice…
The manuscript deals with electron acceleration by a laser pulse in a plasma with a static uniform magnetic field $B_*$. The laser pulse propagates perpendicular to the magnetic field lines with the polarization chosen such that…