Large-scale numerical simulations of ion beam instabilities in unmagnetized astrophysical plasmas

Large-scale numerical simulations of ion beam instabilities in unmagnetized astrophysical plasmas

Large-scale numerical simulations of ion beam instabilities in unmagnetized astrophysical plasmas 150 150 UKAEA Opendata

Large-scale numerical simulations of ion beam instabilities in unmagnetized astrophysical plasmas

Collisionless quasiperpendicular shocks with magnetoacoustic Mach numbers exceeding a certain threshold are known to reflect a fraction of the upstream ion population. These reflected ions drive instabilities which, in a magnetized plasma, can give rise to electron acceleration. In the case of shocks associated with supernova remnants (SNRs), electrons energized in this way may provide a seed population for subsequent acceleration to highly relativistic energies. If the plasma is weakly magnetized, in the sense that the electron cyclotron frequency is much smaller than the electron plasma. The nonlinear evolution of this instability is examined using particle-in-cell simulations, with initial parameters which are representative of SNR shocks.

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01/12/2000