Related papers: Evolution of current and pressure driven instabili…
Magnetized jets in GRBs and AGNs are thought to be efficient accelerators of particles, however, the process responsible for the acceleration is still a matter of active debate. In this work, we study the kink-instability in non-rotating…
Apparent evolution of relativistic flows as traced by radio emission results from a combination of several factors related to propagation of relativistic blobs or shocks, velocity, density and pressure stratification of the underlying flow,…
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…
Strong observational evidence indicates that all extragalactic jets associated with AGNs move at relativistic speed up to 100 pc - 1 kpc scales from the nucleus. At larger distances, reflecting the Fanaroff-Riley radio source…
We study the nonlinear evolution of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability using three-dimensional MHD simulations. We consider the idealized case of two inviscid, perfectly conducting fluids of constant density separated by a contact…
We carry out an extensive linear stability analysis of magnetized cylindrical jets in a global framework. Foregoing the commonly invoked force-free limit, we focus on the small-scale, internal instabilities triggered in regions of the jet…
Weakly collisional space plasmas are rarely in local thermal equilibrium and often exhibit non-Maxwellian electron and ion velocity distributions that lead to the growth of microinstabilities, that is, enhanced electric and magnetic fields…
The Electron Cyclotron Drift Instability (ECDI) driven by the electron $E\times B$ drift in partially magnetized plasmas is investigated with highly resolved particle-in-cell simulations. The emphasis is on two-dimensional effects involving…
The nonlinear evolution of unstable C-type shocks in weakly ionized plasmas is studied by means of time-dependent magnetohydrodynamical simulations. This study is limited to shocks in magnetically dominated plasmas (in which the Alfven…
One of the key open questions in the study of relativistic jets is their interaction with the environment. Here, we study the initial evolution of both electron-proton and electron-positron relativistic jets, focusing on their lateral…
Particle acceleration in relativistic jets to very high energies occurs at the expense of the dissipation of magnetic or kinetic energy. Therefore, understanding the processes that can trigger this dissipation is key to the characterization…
We study the interaction of relativistic jets with their environment, using 3-dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations for two cases of jet composition: (i) electron-proton ($e^{-}-p^{+}$) and (ii) electron-positron ($e^{\pm}$)…
We investigate, for the first time, the nonlinear evolution of the magnetized "resonant drag instabilities" (RDIs). We explore magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of gas mixed with (uniform) dust grains subject to Lorentz and drag forces,…
Both the dynamics and the observational properties of relativistic jets are determined by their interaction with the ambient medium. A crucial role is played by the contact discontinuity at the jet boundary, which in the presence of jet…
Parker instability arises from the presence of magnetic fields in a plasma in a gravitational field such as the interstellar medium (ISM), wherein the magnetic buoyant pressure expels the gas and causes the gas to move along the field…
Short gamma-ray bursts originate when relativistic jets emerge from the remnants of binary neutron star mergers. Both the jet and the remnant are believed to be strongly magnetized, and the presence of magnetic fields is known to influence…
Many astrophysical sources of high energy emission, such as black hole magnetospheres, superstrongly magnetized neutron stars (magnetars), and probably relativistic jets in Active Galactic Nuclei and Gamma Ray Bursts involve…
The physics of instabilities in the precursor of relativistic collisionless shocks is of broad importance in high energy astrophysics, because these instabilities build up the shock, control the particle acceleration process and generate…
Relativistic jets naturally occur in astrophysical systems that involve accretion onto compact objects, such as core collapse of massive stars in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and accretion onto supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei…
In our prior papers, we considered the non-relativistic linear stability analysis of magnetized jets that do not have current sheet at the boundary. In this paper, we extend our analysis to relativistic jets. In order to find the unstable…