Related papers: Nonthermal particle acceleration from maximum entr…
Collisionless and weakly collisional plasmas often exhibit non-thermal quasi-equilibria. Among these quasi-equilibria, distributions with power-law tails are ubiquitous. It is shown that the statistical-mechanical approach originally…
This work presents a model for generating nonthermal power-law tails of particles' energy probability density functions in turbulent collisionless plasmas, applicable to both non-relativistic and relativistic scenarios. We propose that…
Collisionless plasma shock theory, which applies for example to the afterglow of gamma ray bursts, still contains key issues that are poorly understood. In this paper we study charged particle dynamics in a highly relativistic collisionless…
Nonthermal velocity distributions with much greater tails than the Maxwellian have been observed for radical atoms in plasmas for a long time. Historically, such velocity distributions have been modeled by a two-temperature Maxwell…
We apply collisionless particle-in-cell simulations of relativistic pair plasmas to explore whether driven turbulence is a viable high-energy astrophysical particle accelerator. We characterize nonthermal particle distributions for varying…
In a collisionless plasma, the energy distribution function of plasma particles can be strongly affected by turbulence. In particular, it can develop a non-thermal power-law tail at high energies. We argue that turbulence with initially…
It is well known that collisionless systems are dissipation free from the perspective of particle collision and thus conserve entropy. On the other hand, processes such as magnetic reconnection and turbulence appear to convert large-scale…
The past decade has seen an outstanding development of nonthermal particle acceleration in magnetic reconnection in magnetically-dominated systems, with clear signatures of power-law energy distributions as a common outcome of…
The departure of particle distributions from the Maxwellian is commonly observed in space plasmas. These non-Maxwellian distributions which are typical for plasmas that are not in thermal equilibrium, can be modeled with…
Most astrophysical plasmas are observed to have velocity distribution functions exhibiting non-Maxwellian suprathermal tails. The high energy particle populations are accurately represented by the family of kappa-distributions where the use…
Distribution functions of collisionless systems are known to show non-thermal power law tails. Interestingly, collisionless plasmas in various physical scenarios, (e.g., the ion population of the solar wind) feature a $v^{-5}$ tail in the…
Due to its ubiquitous presence, turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in astrophysical sources of high-energy emission. With particle-in-cell simulations, we study decaying turbulence in…
Possible entropy constraints on particle acceleration spectra are discussed. Solar flare models invoke a variety of initial distributions of the primary energy release over the particles of the flare plasma -- ie., the partition of the…
It is shown that power law phase space distributions describe marginally stable Gibbsian equilibria far from thermal equilibrium which are expected to occur in collisionless plasmas containing fully developed quasi-stationary turbulence.…
Kappa-distributed velocities in plasmas are common in a wide variety of settings, from low-density to high-density plasmas. To date, they have been found mainly in space plasmas, but are recently being considered also in the modelling of…
Relativistic magnetically dominated turbulence is an efficient engine for particle acceleration in a collisionless plasma. Ultrarelativistic particles accelerated by interactions with turbulent fluctuations form non-thermal power-law…
The kappa distribution of velocities appears routinely in the study of collisionless plasmas present in Earth's magnetosphere, the solar wind among other contexts where particles are unable to reach thermal equilibrium. Originally justified…
Anisotropic, non-thermal, and multi-temperature distributed particle momenta are commonly observed in collisionless space plasmas, such as the solar wind. Using Liouville's theorem, we argue that anisotropic compression or expansion of the…
Fast, counter-streaming plasma outflows drive magnetic field amplification, plasma heating, and particle acceleration in numerous astrophysical environments, from supernova remnant shocks to active galactic nuclei jets. Understanding how,…
Thermodynamic characteristics of the radiation of condensed combustion products presented in the form of agglomerates of metal-oxide nanoparticles demonstrate deviations from the classical Planck's law. We propose to interpret these…