Related papers: Multi-Mission Observations of Relativistic Electro…
Electrons can be accelerated to ultrarelativistic energies at strong (high-Mach number) collisionless shock waves that form when stellar debris rapidly expands after a supernova. Collisionless shock waves also form in the flow of particles…
In situ observations of energetic particles at the Earth's bow-shock that are attainable by the satellite missions have long created the opinion that electrons are most efficiently accelerated in a quasi-perpendicular shock geometry.…
Magnetosheath jets are localized fast flows with enhanced dynamic pressure. When they supermagnetosonically compress the ambient magnetosheath plasma, a bow wave or shock can form ahead of them. Such a bow wave was recently observed to…
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…
Foreshock transients upstream of Earth's bow shock have been recently observed to accelerate electrons to many times their thermal energy. How such acceleration occurs is unknown, however. Using THEMIS case studies, we examine a subset of…
Collisionless shock waves, found in supernova remnants, interstellar, stellar, and planetary environments, and laboratories, are one of nature's most powerful particle accelerators. This study combines in situ satellite measurements with…
lasma instabilities excited in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle acceleration. We have investigated the particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic electron-positron jet propagating…
Short Large Amplitude Magnetic Structures (SLAMS) are frequently detected during spacecraft crossings over the Earth bow shock. We investigate the existence of such structures at astrophysical shocks, where they could result from the…
A leading explanation for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays is acceleration at high-Mach number shock waves in the collisionless plasma surrounding young supernova remnants. Evidence for this is provided by multi-wavelength non-thermal…
Electron injection process at high Mach number collisionless quasi-perpendicular shock waves is investigated by means of one-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations. We find that energetic electrons are generated through…
In addition to electrons and protons, nonrelativistic quasiparallel shocks are expected to possess the ability to accelerate heavy ions. The shocks in supernova remnants are generally supposed to be accelerators of the Galactic cosmic rays,…
Recent observations in the quasi-parallel bow shock by the MMS spacecraft show rapid heating and acceleration of ions up to an energy of about 100 keV. It is demonstrated that a prominent acceleration mechanism is the nonlinear interaction…
Electron accelerations at high Mach number collision-less shocks are investigated by means of two-dimensional electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell simulations with various Alfven Mach numbers, ion-to-electron mass ratios, and the upstream…
Shock accelerated electrons are found in many astrophysical environments, and the mechanisms by which they are accelerated to high energies are still not completely clear. For relatively high Mach numbers, the shock is supercritical, and…
Hot flow anomalies (HFAs) represent a subset of solar wind discontinuities interacting with collisionless bow shocks. They are typically formed when the normal component of motional (convective) electric field points toward the embedded…
SS 433 is a microquasar, a stellar binary system with collimated relativistic jets. We observed SS 433 in gamma rays using the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.), finding an energy-dependent shift in the apparent position of the…
Using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations at the Earth's quasi-parallel bow shock we demonstrate that electrons are heated by two different mechanisms: a quasi-adiabatic heating process during magnetic field compression,…
Several types of foreshock transients upstream of Earth's bow shock possessing a tenuous, hot core have been observed and simulated. Because of the low dynamic pressure in their cores, these phenomena can significantly disturb the bow shock…
Understanding the heating of electrons to quasi-thermal energies at collisionless shocks has broad implications for plasma astrophysics. It directly impacts the interpretation of X-ray spectra from shocks, is important for understanding how…
Charged particles can be accelerated to high energies by collisionless shock waves in astrophysical environments, such as supernova remnants. By interacting with the magnetized ambient medium, these shocks can transfer energy to particles.…