Related papers: Relativistic Particle Acceleration in a Folded Cur…
Particle acceleration at plasma shocks appears to be ubiquitous in the universe, spanning systems in the heliosphere, supernova remnants, and relativistic jets in distant active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. This review addresses some of…
3D Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) resistive simulations have highlighted the significance of ubiquitous turbulence to drive fast reconnection. It has been demonstrated that particle acceleration via reconnection in 3D magnetized flows, where…
A 2D particle simulation models the collision of two electron-ion plasma clouds along a quasi-parallel magnetic field. The collision speed is 0.9c and the density ratio 10. A current sheet forms at the front of the dense cloud, in which the…
One of the key questions in the study of relativistic jets is how magnetic reconnection occurs and whether it can effectively accelerate electrons in the jet. We performed 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of a relativistic…
We present a new family of relativistic lattice kinetic schemes for the efficient simulation of relativistic flows in both strongly-interacting (fluid) and weakly-interacting (rarefied gas) regimes. The method can also deal with both…
Energetic electromagnetic emissions by astrophysical jets like those that are launched during the collapse of a massive star and trigger gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are partially attributed to relativistic internal shocks. The shocks are…
Dynamics of the magnetospheric plasma configuration intrinsically features intermittent slow and fast phases. The fast transition is a nonlinear process, loss of equilibrium which ends up the slow quasi-static evolution. The process is…
In solar flares and other astrophysical systems, a major challenge for solving particle acceleration problem associated with magnetic reconnection is the enormous scale separation between kinetic scales and observed reconnection scale.…
We report the results of 1D particle-in-cell simulations of ultrarelativistic shock waves in proton-electron-positron plasmas. We consider magnetized shock waves, in which the upstream medium carries a large scale magnetic field, directed…
Shear flows are naturally expected to occur in astrophysical environments and potential sites of continuous non-thermal Fermi-type particle acceleration. Here we investigate the efficiency of expanding relativistic outflows to facilitate…
Relativistic magnetic reconnection is a key process for accelerating charged particles and producing high-energy radiation. We study this process using relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations. Starting with Harris sheet…
The equatorial current sheet in pulsar magnetospheres is often regarded as an ideal site for particle acceleration via relativistic reconnection. Using 2D spherical particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate particle acceleration in the…
Hot accretion flows contain collisionless plasmas that are believed to be capable of accelerating particles to very high energies, as a result of turbulence generated by the magnetorotational instability (MRI). We conduct unstratified…
Understanding plasma dynamics and nonthermal particle acceleration in 3D magnetic reconnection has been a long-standing challenge. In this paper, we explore these problems by performing large-scale fully kinetic simulations of multi-xline…
We investigate acceleration and propagation processes of high-energy particles inside hot accretion flows. The magnetorotational instability (MRI) creates turbulence inside accretion flows, which triggers magnetic reconnection and may…
The relativistic wind of obliquely-rotating pulsars consists of toroidal stripes of opposite magnetic field polarity, separated by current sheets of hot plasma. By means of two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we…
We perform 2D and 3D kinetic simulations of reconnection-mediated turbulent flares in a magnetized electron-positron plasma, with weak and strong radiative cooling. Such flares can be generated around neutron stars and accreting black…
A strong super-Alfv\'{e}nic drift of energetic particles (or cosmic rays, CRs) in a magnetized plasma can amplify the magnetic field significantly through non-resonant streaming instability (NRSI). While the traditional analysis is done for…
Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g.,Buneman, Weibel and other two-stream instabilities) created in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle…
There is no single mechanism by which fast particles are accelerated in astrophysical environments, and it is now recognized that the data require a rich variety of different mechanisms operating under different conditions. The mechanisms…