Related papers: Biermann-battery driven magnetized collisionless s…
Relativistic sources, e.g. gamma-ray bursts, pulsar wind nebulae and powerful active galactic nuclei produce relativistic outflows that lead to the formation of collisionless shock waves, where particle acceleration is thought to take…
Shock waves in plasmas can be characterized by the mechanisms behind their formation. When binary collisions are frequent, dissipation is collision-driven and the shock width is a few mean free paths. In contrast, collisionless shocks rely…
We describe numerical simulations, using the particle-in-cell (PIC) and hybrid-PIC code Lsp [T. P. Hughes et al., Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 2, 110401 (1999)], of the head-on merging of two laboratory supersonic plasma jets. The goals of…
We investigate the generation of magnetic field by the Biermann battery in cosmological ionization fronts, using new simulations of the reionization of the universe by stars in protogalaxies. Two mechanisms are primarily responsible for…
Transient interaction of counter-streaming super-sonic plasma flows in dipole magnetic dipole is studied in laboratory experiment. First quasi-stationary flow is produced by teta-pinch and forms a magnetosphere around the magnetic dipole…
Magnetic fields can be generated in plasmas by the Biermann battery when the electric field produced by the electron pressure gradient has a curl. The commonly employed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of the Biermann battery breaks down…
The efficiency of particle acceleration at shock waves in relativistic, magnetized astrophysical outflows is a debated topic with far-reaching implications. Here, for the first time, we study the impact of turbulence in the pre-shock…
We report spatially resolved measurements of the oblique merging of two supersonic laboratory plasma jets. The jets are formed and launched by pulsed-power-driven railguns using injected argon, and have electron density $\sim 10^{14}$…
We present the results from a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation that models the interaction between a spatially localized electron-positron cloud and an electron-ion plasma. The latter is permeated by a magnetic field that is initially…
We present experimental data providing evidence for the formation of transient ($\sim 20~\mu$s) plasmas that are simultaneously weakly magnetized (i.e., Hall magnetization parameter $\omega \tau > 1$) and dominated by thermal pressure…
Super-Alfv\'enic jets, with kinetic energy densities significantly exceeding that of the solar wind, are commonly generated downstream of Earth's bow shock under both high and low beta plasma conditions. In this study, we present…
The interaction of two laser pulses in an underdense plasma has proven to be able to inject electrons in plasma waves, thus providing a stable and tunable source of electrons. Whereas previous works focused on the "beatwave" injection…
The outflows from gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei and relativistic jets in general interact with the surrounding media through collisionless shocks. With three dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations we investigate…
We report a proposal to observe the two-photon Breit-Wheeler process in plasma driven by compact lasers. A high charge electron bunch can be generated from laser plasma wakefield acceleration when a tightly focused laser pulse transports in…
Filamentation due to the growth of a Weibel-type instability was observed in the interaction of a pair of counter-streaming, ablatively-driven plasma flows, in a supersonic, collisionless regime relevant to astrophysical collisionless…
This research was motivated by the recent observations indicating very strong magnetic fields at some supernova remnant shocks, which suggests in-situ generation of magnetic turbulence. The dissertation presents a numerical model of…
We study the long term evolution of magnetic fields generated by a collisionless relativistic $e^+e^-$ shock which is initially unmagnetized. Our 2D particle-in-cell numerical simulations show that downstream of such a Weibel-mediated…
Aneutronic and nonradioactive properties make the proton-boron fusion a prospective candidate for fusion energy production through reactions following p+$^{11}$B$\rightarrow$3${\alpha}$ (p-$^{11}$B). However, it is difficult to achieve a…
We present the non-linear theory of shock acceleration applied to SNRs expanding into partially neutral plasma. Using this theory we show how the Balmer lines detected from young SNRs can be used to test the efficiency of shocks in the…
We propose a theory to describe laminar ion sound structures in a collisionless plasma. Reflection of a small fraction of the upstream ions converts the well known ion acoustic soliton into a structure with a steep potential gradient…