Related papers: Radiative cooling effects on reverse shocks formed…
Laser-ablated high-energy-density (HED) plasmas offer a promising route to study astrophysically relevant processes underlying collisionless shock formation, magnetic field amplification, and particle acceleration in the laboratory. Using…
Turbulence in a conducting plasma can amplify seed magnetic fields in what is known as the turbulent, or small-scale, dynamo. The associated growth rate and emergent magnetic-field geometry depend sensitively on the material properties of…
The collision of two plasma clouds at a speed that exceeds the ion acoustic speed can result in the formation of shocks. This phenomenon is observed not only in astrophysical scenarios such as the propagation of supernova remnant (SNR)…
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…
We show experimental evidence of a new structure involving an undercompressive and reverse undercompressive shock for draining films driven by a surface tension gradient against gravity. The reverse undercompressive shock is unstable to…
Energetic electromagnetic emissions by astrophysical jets like those that are launched during the collapse of a massive star and trigger gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are partially attributed to relativistic internal shocks. The shocks are…
We present a scenario that could explain non-thermal particle acceleration in relativistic quasi-perpendicular electron-positron shocks, such as the termination shock of pulsar wind nebulae. The shock produces a strong electromagnetic…
The expansion of two circular rarefaction waves in vacuum or in a thin ambient plasma is examined with particle-in-cell simulations that resolve two spatial dimensions. In the simulation with no ambient plasma, the rarefaction waves…
In this work, we investigate collisionless shocks propagating in a relativistically hot unmagnetized electron-positron plasmas. We estimate the dissipation fraction at shocks in the relativistically hot plasma, showing that it is…
We present first results of astrophysically relevant experiments where highly supersonic plasma jets are generated via conically convergent flows. The convergent flows are created by electrodynamic acceleration of plasma in a conical array…
We present results from pulsed-power-driven magnetic reconnection experiments, in which we drove two exploding wire arrays in parallel to produce colliding plasma flows with anti-parallel magnetic fields of 1.2$\pm$0.2 T. The experimental…
The structure of the hot downstream region below a radiative accretion shock, such as that of an accreting compact object, may oscillate due to a global thermal instability. The oscillatory behaviour depends on the functional forms of the…
We present results from the first experimental study of strongly radiatively-cooled magnetic reconnection. Two exploding aluminum wire arrays, driven simultaneously by the Z machine ($I_{max} = 20 \, \text{MA}$, $t_{\text{rise}} = 300 \,…
Models for the synchrotron emission of gamma-ray burst afterglows suggest that the magnetic field is generated in the shock wave that forms as relativistic ejecta plow through the circum-burst medium. Transverse Weibel instability…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous process in astrophysical plasmas, responsible for the explosive conversion of magnetic energy into thermal and kinetic energy. In extreme astrophysical systems, such as black hole coronae and neutron…
It has recently been demonstrated experimentally that a turbulent plasma created by the collision of two inhomogeneous, asymmetric, weakly magnetised laser-produced plasma jets can generate strong stochastic magnetic fields via the…
Experiments with interacting high-velocity flows of laser plasma can help answer the fundamental questions in plasma physics and improve the understanding of the mechanisms behind astrophysical phenomena, such as formation of collisionless…
We analyse the full shock formation process in electron-ion plasmas in theory and simulations. It is accepted that electromagnetic shocks in initially unmagnetised relativistic plasmas are triggered by the filamentation instability.…
Relaxations of localized over-density in a plane transverse to the magnetic field are numericallyinvestigated under the effect of drift-wave and interchange drives in SOL conditions. Such a controlleddeparture from thermodynamic equilibrium…
A density structure within the magnetic cloud of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection impacted Earth and caused significant perturbations in plasma boundaries. We describe the effects of this structure on the magnetosheath plasma…