Electron Acceleration and Structure in the Quasi-perpendicular Collisionless Shock
- Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary, University of London (United Kingdom)
Electron acceleration at quasi-perpendicular shocks is a key problem in collisionless shock physics, in the context of the Earth's bow shock and other astrophysical situations. Fast Fermi acceleration, or reflection by adiabatic mirroring is a robust mechanism, but predicts that the highest energies are produced over a very small shock angle range, close to perpendicular where the reflected flux is decreasingly small. Pitch angle scattering has been shown to be effective in broadening the parameter range where this process is important. Using 2D hybrid simulations and electron test particle simulations, we show that ripples and oscillations of the shock surface are efficient scatters of suprathermal electrons. The results indicate that power law energy distributions can be obtained for both upstream and downstream energetic electrons, over a reasonably wide range of shock angles.
- OSTI ID:
- 20719179
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 781, Issue 1; Conference: 4. annual IGPP international astrophysics conference, Palm Springs, CA (United States), 26 Feb - 3 Mar 2005; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2032668; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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