Related papers: The elusive synchrotron precursor of collisionless…
Collisionless shocks, that is shocks mediated by electromagnetic processes, are customary in space physics and in astrophysics. They are to be found in a great variety of objects and environments: magnetospheric and heliospheric shocks,…
Energetic positrons have been observed in the interstellar medium, and high-energy positrons with relativistic energies up to approximately 1 TeV have been detected in Galactic cosmic rays. We conducted a study on the acceleration of…
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…
In this review we discuss some observational aspects and theoretical models of astrophysical collisionless shocks in partly ionized plasma with the presence of non-thermal components. A specific feature of fast strong collisionless shocks…
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…
A one-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation tracks a fast magnetosonic shock over time scales comparable to an inverse ion gyrofrequency. The magnetic pressure is comparable to the thermal pressure upstream. The shock propagates…
Microphysics of weakly magnetized relativistic collisionless shock waves, corroborated by recent high performance numerical simulations, indicate the presence of a microturbulent layer of large magnetic field strength behind the shock…
Collisionless plasma shocks are efficient sources of non-thermal particle acceleration in space and astrophysical systems. We use hybrid (kinetic ions -- fluid electrons) simulations to examine the non-linear feedback of the self-generated…
This paper is the first in the series of papers aiming to study interaction of the electro-magnetic precursor waves generated at the front of a relativistic shock with the upstream flow. It is motivated by a simple consideration showing…
Diffusive shock acceleration at collisionless shocks remains the most likely process for accelerating particles in a variety of astrophysical sources. While the standard prediction for strong shocks is that the spectrum of accelerated…
We consider the synchrotron spectrum produced by mildly-to-highly relativistic collisionless shocks. Simple analytic formulae are derived for the break frequencies (peak frequency, self-absorption frequency, synchrotron and inverse Compton…
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 sources, e.g. gamma-ray bursts, pulsar wind nebulae and powerful active galactic nuclei produce relativistic outflows that lead to the formation of collisionless shock waves, where particle acceleration is thought to take…
We report the results of 1D particle-in-cell simulations of ultrarelativistic shock waves in proton-electron-positron plasmas. We consider magnetized shock waves, in which the upstream medium carries a large scale magnetic field, directed…
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…
Electromagnetic precursor waves generated by the synchrotron maser instability at relativistic magnetized shocks have been recently invoked to explain the coherent radio emission of Fast Radio Bursts. By means of two-dimensional…
Particle acceleration in relativistic shocks of electron-positron plasmas with proton admixture is investigated through two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The upstream plasma, with a bulk Lorentz factor of $10$ and a…
Relativistic collisionless shocks are associated with efficient particle acceleration when propagating into weakly magnetized homogeneous media; as the magnetization increases, particle acceleration becomes suppressed. We demonstrate that…
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…
Collisionless shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysics and in the lab. Recent numerical simulations and experiments have shown how they can arise from the encounter of two collisionless plasma shells. When the shells interpenetrate, the…