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Title: Diffusive shock re-acceleration

Journal Article · · Journal of Plasma Physics

Here, we have performed two-dimensional hybrid simulations of non-relativistic collisionless shocks in the presence of pre-existing energetic particles (‘seeds’); such a study applies, for instance, to the re-acceleration of galactic cosmic rays (CRs) in supernova remnant (SNR) shocks and solar wind energetic particles in heliospheric shocks. Energetic particles can be effectively reflected and accelerated regardless of shock inclination via a process that we call diffusive shock re-acceleration. We determine that re-accelerated seeds can drive the streaming instability in the shock upstream and produce effective magnetic field amplification. This can later trigger the injection of thermal protons even at oblique shocks that ordinarily cannot inject thermal particles. We characterize the current in reflected seeds, finding that it tends to a universal value$$J\simeq en_{\text{CR}}v_{\text{sh}}$$, where $$en_{\text{CR}}$$ is the seed charge density and $$v_{\text{sh}}$$ is the shock velocity. When applying our results to SNRs, we find that the re-acceleration of galactic CRs can excite the Bell instability to nonlinear levels in less than$${\sim}10~\text{yr}$$, thereby providing a minimum level of magnetic field amplification for any SNR shock. Finally, we discuss the relevance of diffusive shock re-acceleration also for other environments, such as heliospheric shocks, galactic superbubbles and clusters of galaxies.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); NASA, National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI ID:
1544276
Journal Information:
Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 84, Issue 3; ISSN 0022-3778
Publisher:
Cambridge University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (17)

Radio emission from interstellar shocks: Young type Ia supernova remnants and the case of N 103B in the Large Magellanic Cloud journal November 2019
The spectacular cluster chain Abell 781 as observed with LOFAR, GMRT, and XMM-Newton journal February 2019
The cosmic-ray content of the Orion-Eridanus superbubble journal March 2020
Resonant micro-instabilities at quasi-parallel collisionless shocks: Cause or consequence of shock (re)formation journal March 2019
Core-collapse supernovae as cosmic ray sources journal July 2018
Gamma-rays from reaccelerated particles at supernova remnant shocks journal August 2019
Cosmic-ray acceleration and escape from post-adiabatic supernova remnants text January 2020
The Important Role of Cosmic-Ray Re-Acceleration journal April 2019
dHybridR : A Hybrid Particle-in-cell Code Including Relativistic Ion Dynamics journal December 2019
Core-collapse Supernovae as Cosmic Ray Sources conference July 2019
Cosmic-ray acceleration and escape from post-adiabatic supernova remnants journal February 2020
Gamma rays from reaccelerated particles at supernova remnant shocks text January 2019
dHybridR: a Hybrid--Particle-in-Cell Code Including Relativistic Ion Dynamics text January 2019
Cosmic-ray acceleration and escape from post-adiabatic Supernova remnants text January 2019
Core-collapse Supernovae as Cosmic Ray Sources preprint January 2019
Radio Emission from Interstellar Shocks: Young Type Ia Supernova Remnants and the Case of N 103B in the Large Magellanic Cloud text January 2019
The cosmic-ray content of the Orion-Eridanus superbubble text January 2020

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