TY - JOUR A1 - Bohdan, Artem A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Matsumoto, Yosuke A1 - Amano, Takanobu A1 - Hoshino, Masahiro T1 - Kinetic Simulations of Nonrelativistic Perpendicular Shocks of Young Supernova Remnants BT - I. Electron Shock-surfing Acceleration JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - Electron injection at high Mach number nonrelativistic perpendicular shocks is studied here for parameters that are applicable to young SNR shocks. Using high-resolution large-scale two-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations and tracing individual particles, we in detail analyze the shock-surfing acceleration (SSA) of electrons at the leading edge of the shock foot. The central question is to what degree the process can be captured in 2D3V simulations. We find that the energy gain in SSA always arises from the electrostatic field of a Buneman wave. Electron energization is more efficient in the out-of-plane orientation of the large-scale magnetic field because both the phase speed and the amplitude of the waves are higher than for the in-plane scenario. Also, a larger number of electrons is trapped by the waves compared to the in-plane configuration. We conclude that significant modifications of the simulation parameters are needed to reach the same level of SSA efficiency as in simulations with out-of-plane magnetic field or 3D simulations. KW - acceleration of particles KW - instabilities KW - ISM: supernova remnants KW - methods: numerical KW - plasmas KW - shock waves Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab1b6d SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 878 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kobzar, Oleh A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Bohdan, Artem T1 - Spatio-temporal evolution of the non-resonant instability in shock precursors of young supernova remnants JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - A non-resonant cosmic ray (CR) 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 magnetic-field amplification, and in kinetic studies a reduction of the relative drift between CRs and thermal plasma was observed as backreaction. However, all published simulations used periodic boundary conditions, which do not account for mass conservation in decelerating flows and only allow the temporal development to be studied. Here we report results of fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations with open boundaries that permit inflow of plasma on one side of the simulation box and outflow at the other end, hence allowing an investigation of both the temporal and the spatial development of the instability. Magnetic-field amplification proceeds as in studies with periodic boundaries and, observed here for the first time, the reduction of relative drifts causes the formation of a shock-like compression structure at which a fraction of the plasma ions are reflected. Turbulent electric field generated by the non-resonant instability inelastically scatters CRs, modifying and anisotropizing their energy distribution. Spatial CR scattering is compatible with Bohm diffusion. Electromagnetic turbulence leads to significant non-adiabatic heating of the background plasma maintaining bulk equipartition between ions and electrons. The highest temperatures are reached at sites of large-amplitude electrostatic fields. Ion spectra show supra-thermal tails resulting from stochastic scattering in the turbulent electric field. Together, these modifications in the plasma flow will affect the properties of the shock and particle acceleration there. KW - acceleration of particles KW - shock waves KW - turbulence KW - methods: numerical KW - cosmic rays KW - ISM: supernova remnants Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1201 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 469 SP - 4985 EP - 4998 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mizuno, Yosuke A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Zhang, Bing A1 - Nishikawa, Ken-Ichi A1 - Hardee, Philip E. T1 - Magnetic field amplification and saturation in turbulence behind a relativistic shock JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We have investigated via 2D relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations the long-term evolution of turbulence created by a relativistic shock propagating through an inhomogeneous medium. In the post-shock region, magnetic field is strongly amplified by turbulent motions triggered by pre-shock density inhomogeneities. Using a long-simulation box we have followed the magnetic field amplification until it is fully developed and saturated. The turbulent velocity is subrelativistic even for a strong shock. Magnetic field amplification is controlled by the turbulent motion and saturation occurs when the magnetic energy is comparable to the turbulent kinetic energy. Magnetic field amplification and saturation depend on the initial strength and direction of the magnetic field in the pre-shock medium, and on the shock strength. If the initial magnetic field is perpendicular to the shock normal, the magnetic field is first compressed at the shock and then can be amplified by turbulent motion in the post-shock region. Saturation occurs when the magnetic energy becomes comparable to the turbulent kinetic energy in the post-shock region. If the initial magnetic field in the pre-shock medium is strong, the post-shock region becomes turbulent but significant field amplification does not occur. If the magnetic energy after shock compression is larger than the turbulent kinetic energy in the post-shock region, significant field amplification does not occur. We discuss possible applications of our results to gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei. KW - MHD KW - relativistic processes KW - shock waves KW - turbulence KW - methods: numerical KW - gamma-ray burst: general Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu196 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 439 IS - 4 SP - 3490 EP - 3503 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mizuno, Yosuke A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Zhang, Bing A1 - Nishikawa, Ken-Ichi A1 - Hardee, Philip E. T1 - Magnetic-field amplification by turbulence in a relativistic shockpropagating through an inhomogeneous medium JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We perform two-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a mildly relativistic shock propagating through an inhomogeneous medium. We show that the postshock region becomes turbulent owing to preshock density inhomogeneity, and the magnetic field is strongly amplified due to the stretching and folding of field lines in the turbulent velocity field. The amplified magnetic field evolves into a filamentary structure in two-dimensional simulations. The magnetic energy spectrum is flatter than the Kolmogorov spectrum and indicates that a so-called small-scale dynamo is occurring in the postshock region. We also find that the amount of magnetic-field amplification depends on the direction of the mean preshock magnetic field, and the timescale of magnetic-field growth depends on the shock strength. KW - gamma-ray burst: general KW - magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) KW - methods: numerical KW - relativistic processes KW - shock waves KW - turbulence Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/726/2/62 SN - 0004-637X VL - 726 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stroman, Thomas A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Bret, Antoine T1 - Could cosmic rays affect instabilities in the Transition layer of nonrealativistic collisionless shocks? JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - There is an observational correlation between astrophysical shocks and nonthermal particle distributions extending to high energies. As a first step toward investigating the possible feedback of these particles on the shock at the microscopic level, we perform particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of a simplified environment consisting of uniform, interpenetrating plasmas, both with and without an additional population of cosmic rays. We vary the relative density of the counterstreaming plasmas, the strength of a homogeneous parallel magnetic field, and the energy density in cosmic rays. We compare the early development of the unstable spectrum for selected configurations without cosmic rays to the growth rates predicted from linear theory, for assurance that the system is well represented by the PIC technique. Within the parameter space explored, we do not detect an unambiguous signature of any cosmic-ray-induced effects on the microscopic instabilities that govern the formation of a shock. We demonstrate that an overly coarse distribution of energetic particles can artificially alter the statistical noise that produces the perturbative seeds of instabilities, and that such effects can be mitigated by increasing the density of computational particles. KW - cosmic rays KW - instabilities KW - plasmas KW - shock waves Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/746/1/24 SN - 0004-637X VL - 746 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Bret, Antoine A1 - Wieland, Volkmar T1 - Nonrelativistic parallel shocks in unmagnetized and weakly magnetized plasmas JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present results of 2D3V particle-in-cell simulations of nonrelativistic plasma collisions with absent or parallel large-scale magnetic field for parameters applicable to the conditions at young supernova remnants. We study the collision of plasma slabs of different density, leading to two different shocks and a contact discontinuity. Electron dynamics play an important role in the development of the system. While nonrelativistic shocks in both unmagnetized and magnetized plasmas can be mediated by Weibel-type instabilities, the efficiency of shock-formation processes is higher when a large-scale magnetic field is present. The electron distributions downstream of the forward and reverse shocks are generally isotropic, whereas that is not always the case for the ions. We do not see any significant evidence of pre-acceleration, neither in the electron population nor in the ion distribution. KW - acceleration of particles KW - instabilities KW - ISM: supernova remnants KW - methods: numerical KW - plasmas KW - shock waves Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/73 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 759 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER -