Related papers: Physical problems (microphysics) in relativistic p…
Energetic astrophysical phenomena, such as $\gamma$-ray bursts and supernova explosion-driven shocks in collisionless plasmas, involve various plasma kinetic instabilities, such as the Weibel instability. In this paper, we explore the…
Nonlinear interaction of a low density electron beam with a uniform plasma is studied using two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. We focus on formation of coherent phase space structures in the case, when a wide…
Continuum kinetic simulations are increasingly capable of resolving high-dimensional phase space with advances in computing. These capabilities can be more fully explored by using linear kinetic theory to initialize the self-consistent…
Weakly collisional space plasmas are rarely in local thermal equilibrium and often exhibit non-Maxwellian electron and ion velocity distributions that lead to the growth of microinstabilities, that is, enhanced electric and magnetic fields…
The interaction of TeV blazars emitted gamma-rays with the extragalactic background photons gives rise to a relativistic beam of electron-positron ($e^- e^+$) pairs propagating through the intergalactic medium, producing a cascade through…
Kinetic instabilities are one of the most challenging aspects in computational plasma physics. Accurately capturing their onset and evolution requires fine resolution of the high-dimensional distribution functions of each relevant species,…
Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing relativistic jets and shocks, e.g., active galactic nuclei (AGNs), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and Galactic microquasar systems usually have power-law emission spectra. Recent…
We consider a two-dimensional complex plasma layer containing charged dust particles in a perpendicular magnetic field. Computer simulations of both one-component and binary systems are used to explore the equilibrium particle dynamics in…
Plasma streaming instabilities play an important role in magnetic field amplification and particle acceleration in relativistic shocks and their environments. However, in the far shock precursor region where accelerated particles constitute…
Quantum computing is gaining increased attention as a potential way to speed up simulations of physical systems, and it is also of interest to apply it to simulations of classical plasmas. However, quantum information science is…
Understanding physics in domains of critical (quantum unstable) fields requires investigating the classical and quantum particle dynamics at the critical acceleration, $\dot u \to 1$ [natural units]. This regime of physics remains today…
Electronic parametric instabilities of an ultrarelativistic circularly polarized laser pulse propagating in underdense plasmas are studied by numerically solving the dispersion relation which includes the effect of the radiation reaction…
The statistical properties of ions in two-dimensional fully developed turbulence have been compared between two different numerical algorithms. In particular, we compare Hybrid Particle In Cell (hybrid PIC with fluid electrons) and full PIC…
Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing relativistic jets and shocks, e.g., gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and microquasars commonly exhibit power-law emission spectra. Recent PIC…
Turbulent high-energy astrophysical systems often feature asymmetric energy injection: for instance, Alfven waves propagating from an accretion disk into its corona. Such systems are "imbalanced": the energy fluxes parallel and…
We consider the free boundary problem for relativistic plasma--vacuum interfaces in two and three spatial dimensions. The plasma flow is governed by the equations of ideal relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, while the vacuum magnetic and…
Based on the particle-in-cell (PIC) plasma simulation method, the speed-limited PIC (SLPIC) method delivers faster kinetic plasma simulation in cases where the particle distributions evolve slowly compared with the maximum stable PIC…
A linear analysis based on two-fluid equations in the approximation of a cold plasma, wherein the plasma temperature is assumed to be zero, demonstrates that a two-stream instability occurs in all cases. However, if this were true, the…
Collisionless shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysics and in the lab. Recent numerical simulations and experiments have shown how they can arise from the encounter of two collisionless plasma shells. When the shells interpenetrate, the…
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…