Related papers: Perpendicular relativistic shocks in magnetized pa…
Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing relativistic jets and shocks e.g. gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and microquasars commonly exhibit power-law emission spectra. Recent PIC simulations…
Colliding collisionless shocks appear in a great variety of astrophysical phenomena and are thought to be possible sources of particle acceleration in the Universe. To investigate the detailed dynamics of this phenomenon, we have performed…
Using our new 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code parallelized with MPI, we have investigated long-term particle acceleration associated with an relativistic electron-positron jet propagating in an unmagnetized ambient…
We perform particle-in-cell simulations to elucidate the microphysics of relativistic weakly magnetized shocks loaded with electron-positron pairs. Various external magnetizations $\sigma\lesssim 10^{-4}$ and pair-loading factors $Z_\pm…
We perform Monte Carlo simulations of diffusive shock acceleration at highly relativistic oblique shock waves. High upstream flow Lorentz gamma factors are used, which are relevant to models of ultra relativistic particle shock acceleration…
In dilute astrophysical plasmas, the collisional mean free path of a particle can exceed its Larmor radius. Under these conditions, the thermal conductivity and viscosity of the plasma can be dramatically altered. This alteration allows…
The onset and evolution of magnetic fields in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas is determined by several mechanisms, including instabilities, dynamo effects and ultra-high energy particle flows through gas, plasma and interstellar-media.…
Magnetic reconnection is a leading mechanism for magnetic energy conversion and high-energy non-thermal particle production in a variety of high-energy astrophysical objects, including ones with relativistic ion-electron plasmas (e.g.,…
We investigate the acceleration of charged particles (both electrons and protons) at collisionless shocks predicted to exist in the vicinity of solar flares. The existence of standing termination shocks has been examined by flare models and…
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.…
The growth rate of long wavelength kinetic instabilities arising due to the interaction of a collimated beam of relativistic particles and a cold unmagnetized plasma are calculated in the ultra relativistic limit. For sufficiently…
In a recent paper we have analyzed the AdS/CFT duals to shock waves propagating in the N=4 plasma. Here we study further properties of the system. In the gravity description we consider the properties of the dual black holes, showing in…
The complex interaction between shocks and plasma turbulence is extremely important to address crucial features of energy conversion in a broad range of astrophysical systems. We study the interaction between a supercritical, perpendicular…
Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) at relativistic shocks is expected to be an important acceleration mechanism in a variety of astrophysical objects including extragalactic jets in active galactic nuclei and gamma ray bursts. These sources…
Diffusive shock acceleration at collisionless shocks is thought to be the source of many of the energetic particles observed in space. Large-scale spatial variations of the magnetic field has been shown to be important in understanding…
Understanding the conditions conducive to particle acceleration at collisionless, non-relativistic shocks is important for the origin of cosmic rays. We use hybrid (kinetic ions -- fluid electrons) kinetic simulations to investigate…
The friction force on a test particle traveling through a plasma that is both strongly coupled and strongly magnetized is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. In addition to the usual stopping power component aligned antiparallel…
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…
In models of fast magnetic reconnection, flux transfer occurs within a small portion of a current sheet triggering stored magnetic energy to be thermalized by shocks. When the initial current sheet separates magnetic fields which are not…
We report on the observation of rapid particle acceleration in numerical simulations of relativistic jet-plasma interactions and discuss the underlying mechanisms. The dynamics of a charge-neutral, narrow, electron-positron jet propagating…