Nonrelativistic parallel shocks in unmagnetized and weakly magnetized plasmas
- 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.
Author details: | Jacek Niemiec, Martin PohlORCiDGND, Antoine Bret, Volkmar Wieland |
---|---|
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/73 |
ISSN: | 0004-637X |
ISSN: | 1538-4357 |
Title of parent work (English): | The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics |
Publisher: | IOP Publ. Ltd. |
Place of publishing: | Bristol |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2012 |
Publication year: | 2012 |
Release date: | 2017/03/26 |
Tag: | ISM: supernova remnants; acceleration of particles; instabilities; methods: numerical; plasmas; shock waves |
Volume: | 759 |
Issue: | 1 |
Number of pages: | 20 |
Funding institution: | Narodowe Centrum Nauki [DEC-2011/01/B/ST9/03183]; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [PO 1508/1-1]; Spanish Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia [ENE2009-09276] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
Peer review: | Referiert |