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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…
The dynamics of two initially unmagnetized relativistic counter-streaming homogeneous ion-electron plasma beams are simulated in two dimensions using the particle-in-cell (PIC) method. It is shown that current filaments, which form due to…
This paper extends our earlier work on the acceleration of low-energy electrons by plasma turbulence to include the effects of finite temperature of the plasma. We consider the resonant interaction of thermal electrons with the whole…
A nonresonant cosmic-ray-current-driven instability may operate in the shock precursors of young supernova remnants and be responsible for magnetic-field amplification, plasma heating and turbulence. Earlier simulations demonstrated…
We develop a theory of buoyancy instabilities of the electron-ion plasma with the heat flux based on not the MHD equations, but using the multicomponent plasma approach. We investigate a geometry in which the background magnetic field,…
Due to its ubiquitous presence, turbulence is often invoked to explain the origin of nonthermal particles in astrophysical sources of high-energy emission. With particle-in-cell simulations, we study decaying turbulence in…
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,…
In turbulent magnetized plasmas, charged particles can be accelerated to high energies through their interactions with the turbulent motions. As they do so, they draw energy from the turbulence, possibly up to the point where they start…
Relativistic current sheets have been proposed as the sites of dissipation in pulsar winds, jets in active galaxies and other Poynting-flux dominated flows. It is shown that the steady versions of these structures differ from their…
We examine the equilibrium properties of hot, dilute, non-relativistic plasmas. The partition function and density correlation functions of a classical plasma with several species are expressed in terms of a functional integral over…
The thermal self-energy of an electron in a static uniform magnetic field $B$ is calculated to first order in the fine structure constant $\alpha $ and to all orders in $eB$. We use two methods, one based on the Furry picture and another…
We give the free energy of equilibrium relativistic matter subject to external gravitational and electromagnetic fields, to one-derivative order in the gradients of the external fields. The free energy allows for a straightforward…
Symmetric electron-positron plasmas in inhomogeneous magnetic fields are intrinsically subject to interchange instability and transport. Scaling relations for the propagation velocity of density blob perturbations relevant to transport in…
Penning ionization releases electrons in a state-selected Rydberg gas of nitric oxide entrained in a supersonic molecular beam. Subsequent processes of electron impact avalanche, bifurcation, and quench form a strongly coupled, spatially…
Particle acceleration consequences from fluctuating electric fields superposed on an X-type magnetic field in collisionless solar plasma are studied. Such a system is chosen to mimic generic features of dynamic reconnection, or the…
We developed an experimental platform for studying magnetic reconnection in an external magnetic field with simultaneous measurements of plasma imaging, flow velocity, and magnetic-field variation. Here, we investigate the stagnation and…
We present numerical results from plasma particle simulations of collisionless shocks and ultra-relativistic counter-streaming plasmas. We demonstrate how the field-particle interactions lead to particle acceleration behind the shock-front.…
We generalize the derivation of electromagnetic fields of a charged particle moving with a constant acceleration [1] to a variable acceleration (piecewise constants) over a small finite time interval using Coulomb's law, relativistic…
We study the electron-acoustic instabilities in plasmas with two kappa-distributed electrons and stationary ions. The instabilities are driven by the relative drift between two electron components. The suprathermal effects of different…
Relativistic plasmas in strong electromagnetic fields exhibit distinct properties compared to classical plasmas. In astrophysical environments, such as neutron stars, white dwarfs, AGNs, and shocks, relativistic plasmas are pervasive and…