Related papers: Collisionless ablative plasma shocks
The expansion of a dense plasma through a more rarefied ionised medium is a phenomenon of interest in various physics environments ranging from astrophysics to high energy density laser- matter laboratory experiments. Here this situation is…
We model relativistically colliding plasma by PIC simulations in one and two spatial dimensions, taking an ion-to-electron mass ratio of 400. Energy dissipation by a wave precursor of mixed polarity and different densities of the colliding…
Collisionless shocks heat electrons in the solar wind, interstellar blast waves, and hot gas permeating galaxy clusters. How much shock heating goes to electrons instead of ions, and what plasma physics controls electron heating? We…
The thermal collapse of a nearly collisionless plasma interacting with a cooling spot, in which the electron parallel heat flux plays an essential role, is investigated both theoretically and numerically. We show that such thermal collapse,…
A developing supercritical collisionless shock propagating in a homogeneously magnetized plasma of ambient gas origin having higher uniformity than the previous experiments is formed by using high-power laser experiment. The ambient plasma…
The expansion of a radial blast shell into an ambient plasma is modeled with a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. The unmagnetized plasma consists of electrons and protons. The formation and evolution of an electrostatic shock is observed,…
Colliding collisionless shocks appear in a great variety of astrophysical phenomena and are thought to be possible sources of particle acceleration in the Universe. To investigate the detailed dynamics of this phenomenon, we have performed…
Collisionless shocks, that is shocks mediated by electromagnetic processes, are customary in space physics and in astrophysics. They are to be found in a great variety of objects and environments: magnetospheric and heliospheric shocks,…
Relativistic collisionless shocks in electron-ion plasma are thought to occur in the afterglow phase of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), and in other environments where relativistic flows interact with the interstellar medium. A particular regime…
We observe shock-front separation and species-dependent shock widths in multi-ion-species collisional plasma shocks, which are produced by obliquely merging plasma jets of a He/Ar mixture (97% He and 3% Ar by initial number density) on the…
A one-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation tracks a fast magnetosonic shock over time scales comparable to an inverse ion gyrofrequency. The magnetic pressure is comparable to the thermal pressure upstream. The shock propagates…
Ab-initio numerical study of collisionless shocks in electron-ion unmagnetized plasmas is performed with fully relativistic particle in cell simulations. The main properties of the shock are shown, focusing on the implications for particle…
Collisionless shocks in plasmas play an important role in space physics (Earth's bow shock) and astrophysics (supernova remnants, relativistic jets, gamma-ray bursts, high energy cosmic rays). While the formation of a fluid shock through…
Non-relativistic collisionless shock waves are widespread in space and astrophysical plasmas and are known as efficient particle accelerators. However, our understanding of collisionless shocks, including their structure and the mechanisms…
Reconnection shocks in a magnetically dominated plasma must be compressive. Non-thermal ion acceleration can occur across built-in slow shocks, and across outflow fast shocks when the outflow is supermagnetosonic and the field is line-tied.…
Large-scale structure formation, accretion and merging processes, AGN activity produce cosmological gas shocks. The shocks convert a fraction of the energy of gravitationally accelerated flows to internal energy of the gas. Being the main…
The plasma of the lower solar atmosphere consists of mostly neutral particles, whereas the upper solar atmosphere is mostly ionised particles and electrons. A shock that propagates upwards in the solar atmosphere therefore undergoes a…
Nonrelativistic electrostatic unmagnetized shocks are frequently observed in laboratory plasmas and they are likely to exist in astrophysical plasmas. Their maximum speed, expressed in units of the ion acoustic speed far upstream of the…
Thermal quench of a nearly collisionless plasma against a cooling boundary or region is an undesirable off-normal event in magnetic fusion experiments, but an ubiquitous process of cosmological importance in astrophysical plasmas. There is…
Two-dimensional Particle-In-Cell simulations are used to explore collisionless shock acceleration in the corona plasma surrounding the compressed core of an inertial confinement fusion pellet. We show that an intense laser pulse interacting…