Related papers: Microphysics of Relativistic Collisionless Electro…
Collisionless shocks are common features in space and astrophysical systems where supersonic plasma flows interact, such as in the solar wind, the heliopause, and supernova remnants. Recent experimental capabilities and diagnostics allow…
Fermi acceleration by collisionless shocks is believed to be the primary mechanism to produce high energy charged particles in the Universe,where charged particles gain energy successively from multiple reflections off the shock…
Collisionless shock acceleration of protons and C$^{6+}$ ions has been achieved by the interaction of a 10$^{20}$ W/cm$^2$, 1 $\mu$m laser with a near-critical density plasma. Ablation of the initially solid density target by a secondary…
The theoretical model by Sorasio et al. (2006) for the steady state Mach number of electrostatic shocks formed in the interaction of two plasma slabs of arbitrary density and temperature is generalized for relativistic electron and…
Collisionless shocks are efficient particle accelerators. At Earth, ions with energies exceeding 100 keV are seen upstream of the bow shock when the magnetic geometry is quasi-parallel, and large-scale supernova remnant shocks can…
Instability of electron-positron vacuum in strong electric fields is studied. First, falling to the Coulomb center is discussed at $Z>137/2$ for a spinless boson and at $Z>137$ for electron. Then, focus is concentrated on description of…
The physics of collisionless relativistic shocks with a moderate magnetization is presented. Micro-physics is relevant to explain the most energetic radiative phenomena of Nature, namely that of the termination shock of Gamma Ray Bursts. A…
The plasma in low-luminosity accretion flows, such as the one around the black hole at the center of M87 or Sgr A* at our Galactic Center, is expected to be collisioness and two-temperature, with protons hotter than electrons. Here,…
The dissipation of turbulent magnetic fields is an appealing scenario to explain the origin of non-thermal particles in high-energy astrophysical sources. However, it has been suggested that the particle distribution may effectively…
Giant radio relics in the outskirts of galaxy clusters are known to be lit up by the relativistic electrons produced via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) in shocks with low sonic Mach numbers, $M_{\rm s}\lesssim3$. The particle…
We investigate here the effects of plasma instabilities driven by rapid electron/positron pair cascades, which arise in the environment of GRB sources as a result of back-scattering of a seed fraction of the original spectrum. The injection…
Analysis of model fit results of 15,210 electron velocity distribution functions (VDFs), observed within $\pm$2 hours of 52 interplanetary (IP) shocks by the Wind spacecraft near 1 AU, is presented as the third and final part on electron…
Collisionless magnetic reconnection is a prime candidate to account for flare-like or steady emission, outflow launching, or plasma heating, in a variety of high-energy astrophysical objects, including ones with relativistic ion-electron…
We present the results of two-temperature magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the propagation of sub-relativistic jets of active galactic nuclei. The dependence of the electron and ion temperature distributions on the fraction of electron…
We study relativistic unmagnetized collisionless shocks using unprecedentedly large particle-in-cell simulations of two-dimensional pair plasma. High energy particles accelerated by the shock are found to drive magnetic field evolution on a…
A full particle simulation study is carried out on the electron acceleration at a collisionless, relatively low Alfven Mach number (M_A=5), perpendicular shock. Recent self-consistent hybrid shock simulations have demonstrated that the…
Hot collisionless accretion flows, such as the one in Sgr A$^{*}$ at our Galactic center, provide a unique setting for the investigation of magnetic reconnection. Here, protons are non-relativistic while electrons can be ultra-relativistic.…
The radiative acceleration of particles and the electrostatic potential fields that arise in low density plasmas hit by radiation produced by a transient, compact source are investigated. We calculate the dynamical evolution and asymptotic…
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…
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.…