Related papers: Non-thermal Acceleration from Reconnection Shocks
Particle acceleration in relativistic shocks of electron-positron plasmas with proton admixture is investigated through two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The upstream plasma, with a bulk Lorentz factor of $10$ and a…
Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous astrophysical process that rapidly converts magnetic energy into some combination of plasma flow energy, thermal energy, and non-thermal energetic particles, including energetic electrons. Various…
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…
The debate surrounding fast magnetic energy dissipation by magnetic reconnection has remained a fundamental topic in the plasma universe, not only in the Earth's magnetosphere but in astrophysical objects such as pulsar magnetospheres and…
Intense laser-plasma interactions are an essential tool for the laboratory study of ion acceleration at a collisionless shock. With two-dimensional particle-in-cell calculations of a multicomponent plasma we observe two electrostatic…
Magnetic reconnection is commonly perceived to drive flow and particle acceleration in flares of solar, stellar, and astrophysical disk coronae but the relative roles of different acceleration mecha- nisms in a given reconnection…
Using large-scale fully-kinetic two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the effects of shock rippling on electron acceleration at low-Mach-number shocks propagating in high-$\beta$ plasmas, in application to merger…
Processes driven by unsteady reconnection can efficiently accelerate particles in many astrophysical plasmas. An example are the reconnection jet fronts in an outflow region. We present evidence of suprathermal ion acceleration between two…
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…
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…
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…
We explore the physics of shock evolution and particle acceleration in non-relativistic collisionless shocks using multidimensional hybrid simulations. We analyze a wide range of physical parameters relevant to the acceleration of cosmic…
The recent discoveries in the theory of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) that stem from first-principle kinetic plasma simulations are discussed. When ion acceleration is efficient, the back-reaction of non-thermal particles and…
The linear and nonlinear evolution of magnetic reconnection in collisionless high-temperature plasmas with a strong guide field is analyzed on the basis of a two-dimensional gyrofluid model. The linear growth rate of the reconnecting…
Gyrokinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection are presented to investigate plasma heating for strongly magnetized, weakly collisional plasmas. For a low plasma beta case, parallel and perpendicular phase mixing strongly enhance energy…
Magnetic reconnection in relativistic plasmas is well established as a fast and efficient particle accelerator, capable of explaining the most dramatic astrophysical flares. With particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate the importance…
Particle acceleration and heating at mildly relativistic magnetized shocks in electron-ion plasma are investigated with unprecedentedly high-resolution two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that include ion-scale shock rippling.…
An experimental investigation of collisionless shock ion acceleration is presented using a multicomponent plasma and a high-intensity picosecond duration laser pulse. Protons are the only accelerated ions when a near-critical-density plasma…
Magnetic reconnection -- a fundamental plasma physics process, where magnetic field lines of opposite polarity annihilate -- is invoked in astrophysical plasmas as a powerful mechanism of nonthermal particle acceleration, able to explain…
Understanding the conditions conducive to particle acceleration at collisionless, non-relativistic shocks is important for the origin of cosmic rays. We use hybrid (kinetic ions -- fluid electrons) kinetic simulations to investigate…