Electron acceleration in laboratory-produced turbulent collisionless shocks

Fiuza, F.; Swadling, G. F.; Grassi, A.; Rinderknecht, H. G.; Higginson, D. P.; Ryutov, D. D.; Bruulsema, C.; Drake, R. P.; Funk, S.; Glenzer, S.; Gregori, G.; Li, C. K.; Pollock, B. B.; Remington, B. A.; Ross, J. S.; Rozmus, W.; Sakawa, Y.; Spitkovsky, A.; Wilks, S.; Park, H.-S.

doi:10.1038/s41567-020-0919-4

Title: Electron acceleration in laboratory-produced turbulent collisionless shocks

Journal Article · Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Nature Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0919-4· OSTI ID:1635109

^[1];

^[2];

^[1]; Rinderknecht, H. G. ^[3];

^[2]; Ryutov, D. D. ^[2]; Bruulsema, C. ^[4];

^[5]; Funk, S. ^[6]; Glenzer, S. ^[1]; Gregori, G. ^[7]; Li, C. K. ^[8]; Pollock, B. B. ^[2]; Remington, B. A. ^[2]; Ross, J. S. ^[2]; Rozmus, W. ^[4]; Sakawa, Y. ^[9]; Spitkovsky, A. ^[10]; Wilks, S. ^[2]; Park, H.-S. ^[2]

SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Friedrich-Alexander-Univ. Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany)
Oxford Univ. (United Kingdom)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Osaka Univ. (Japan)
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

Astrophysical collisionless shocks are among the most powerful particle accelerators in the Universe. Generated by violent interactions of supersonic plasma flows with the interstellar medium, supernova remnant shocks are observed to amplify magnetic fields and accelerate electrons and protons to highly relativistic speeds. In the well-established model of diffusive shock acceleration, relativistic particles are accelerated by repeated shock crossings. However, this requires a separate mechanism that pre-accelerates particles to enable shock crossing. This is known as the ‘injection problem’, which is particularly relevant for electrons, and remains one of the most important puzzles in shock acceleration. In most astrophysical shocks, the details of the shock structure cannot be directly resolved, making it challenging to identify the injection mechanism. In this letter we report results from laser-driven plasma flow experiments, and related simulations, that probe the formation of turbulent collisionless shocks in conditions relevant to young supernova remnants. We show that electrons can be effectively accelerated in a first-order Fermi process by small-scale turbulence produced within the shock transition to relativistic non-thermal energies, helping overcome the injection problem. Our observations provide new insight into electron injection at shocks and open the way for controlled laboratory studies of the physics underlying cosmic accelerators.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; NA0002725; AC52-07NA27344; 15-ERD-065; EP/M022331/1; EP/N014472/1

OSTI ID:: 1635109

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1635110; OSTI ID: 1658455; OSTI ID: 1729741

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-811841; TRN: US2201333

Journal Information:: Nature Physics, Vol. 16, Issue 9; ISSN 1745-2473

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group (NPG)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 40 works

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