Fermi acceleration in relativistic collisionless plasma shocks correlates with anisotropic energy gains

Rajawat, Roopendra Singh; Khudik, Vladimir; Shvets, Gennady

doi:10.1063/5.0061083

Fermi acceleration in relativistic collisionless plasma shocks correlates with anisotropic energy gains

Journal Article · Thu Nov 18 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0061083· OSTI ID:1978947

^[1]; Khudik, Vladimir ^[2]; Shvets, Gennady ^[3]

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
University of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States)

Collisionless shocks generated by two colliding relativistic electron-positron plasma shells are studied using particle-in-cell simulations. Shocks are mediated by the Weibel instability (WI), and the kinetic energy of the fastest accelerated particles is found to be anisotropically modified by WI-induced electric fields. Specifically, we show that all particles interacting with the shock bifurcate into two groups based on their final relativistic Lorentz factor γ: slow (γ < γ_bf) and fast (γ < γ_bf), where γ_bf is the bifurcation Lorentz factor that was found to be approximately twice the initial (upstream) Lorentz factor γ0. We have found that the kinetic energies of the slow particles are equally affected by the longitudinal and transverse components of the shock electric field, whereas the fast particles are primarily accelerated by the transverse field component.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003879

OSTI ID:: 1978947

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1831280

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 28; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (51)

Das Maxwellsche Gesetz der Geschwindigkeitsverteilung in der Relativtheorie Jüttner, Ferencz Annalen der Physik, Vol. 339, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.19113390503	journal	January 1911
Fundamentals of collisionless shocks for astrophysical application, 2. Relativistic shocks Bykov, A. M.; Treumann, R. A. The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review, Vol. 19, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00159-011-0042-8	journal	August 2011
Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Outflows Bykov, Andrei; Gehrels, Neil; Krawczynski, Henric Space Science Reviews, Vol. 173, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-012-9896-y	journal	June 2012
Relativistic Shocks: Particle Acceleration and Magnetization Sironi, L.; Keshet, U.; Lemoine, M. Space Science Reviews, Vol. 191, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0181-8	journal	September 2015
Particle acceleration at astrophysical shocks: A theory of cosmic ray origin Blandford, Roger; Eichler, David Physics Reports, Vol. 154, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/0370-1573(87)90134-7	journal	October 1987
Nonlinear particle acceleration in relativistic shocks Ellison, Donald C.; Double, Glen P. Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 18, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-6505(02)00142-1	journal	December 2002
X-dispersionless Maxwell solver for plasma-based particle acceleration Pukhov, Alexander Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 418 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2020.109622	journal	October 2020
Three-dimensional electromagnetic relativistic particle-in-cell code VLPL (Virtual Laser Plasma Lab) Pukhov, A. Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 61, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377899007515	journal	April 1999
Particle acceleration by ultrarelativistic shocks: theory and simulations Achterberg, A.; Gallant, Y. A.; Kirk, J. G. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 328, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04851.x	journal	December 2001
Saturation mechanism of the Weibel instability in weakly magnetized plasmas Kato, Tsunehiko N. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 12, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2017942	journal	August 2005
Simulations of relativistic collisionless shocks: shock structure and particle acceleration Spitkovsky, Anatoly ASTROPHYSICAL SOURCES OF HIGH ENERGY PARTICLES AND RADIATION, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2141897	conference	January 2005
Nonlinear evolution of the Weibel instability of relativistic electron beams Shvets, Gennady; Polomarov, Oleg; Khudik, Vladimir Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3093477	journal	May 2009
Multidimensional electron beam-plasma instabilities in the relativistic regime Bret, A.; Gremillet, L.; Dieckmann, M. E. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3514586	journal	December 2010
Growth and propagation of self-generated magnetic dipole vortices in collisionless shocks produced by interpenetrating plasmas Naseri, N.; Bochkarev, S. G.; Ruan, P. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5008278	journal	January 2018
Fluid dynamics of relativistic blast waves Blandford, R. D.; McKee, C. F. Physics of Fluids, Vol. 19, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.861619	journal	January 1976
Particle acceleration by astrophysical shocks Blandford, R. D.; Ostriker, J. P. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 221 https://doi.org/10.1086/182658	journal	April 1978
Generation of Magnetic Fields in the Relativistic Shock of Gamma‐Ray Burst Sources Medvedev, Mikhail V.; Loeb, Abraham The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 526, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/308038	journal	December 1999
Particle Acceleration at Ultrarelativistic Shocks: An Eigenfunction Method Kirk, J. G.; Guthmann, A. W.; Gallant, Y. A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 542, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/309533	journal	October 2000
Particle Transport in Tangled Magnetic Fields and Fermi Acceleration at Relativistic Shocks Lemoine, Martin; Pelletier, Guy The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 589, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/376353	journal	April 2003
Interpenetrating Plasma Shells: Near-Equipartition Magnetic Field Generation and Nonthermal Particle Acceleration Silva, L. O.; Fonseca, R. A.; Tonge, J. W. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 596, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/379156	journal	September 2003
Steady State Electrostatic Layers from Weibel Instability in Relativistic Collisionless Shocks Milosavljević, Miloš; Nakar, Ehud; Spitkovsky, Anatoly The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 637, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/498445	journal	February 2006
Relativistic Collisionless Shocks in Unmagnetized Electron‐Positron Plasmas Kato, Tsunehiko N. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 668, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/521297	journal	October 2007
Long‐Term Evolution of Magnetic Turbulence in Relativistic Collisionless Shocks: Electron‐Positron Plasmas Chang, Philip; Spitkovsky, Anatoly; Arons, Jonathan The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 674, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/524764	journal	February 2008
On the Structure of Relativistic Collisionless Shocks in Electron-Ion Plasmas Spitkovsky, Anatoly The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 673, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/527374	journal	December 2007
Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Collisionless Shocks: Fermi Process at Last? Spitkovsky, Anatoly The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 682, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/590248	journal	July 2008
Magnetic Field Evolution in Relativistic Unmagnetized Collisionless Shocks Keshet, Uri; Katz, Boaz; Spitkovsky, Anatoly The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 693, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/693/2/L127	journal	February 2009
Ion Dynamics and Acceleration in Relativistic Shocks Martins, S. F.; Fonseca, R. A.; Silva, L. O. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 695, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/695/2/L189	journal	April 2009
The Maximum Energy of Accelerated Particles in Relativistic Collisionless Shocks Sironi, Lorenzo; Spitkovsky, Anatoly; Arons, Jonathan The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 771, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/771/1/54	journal	June 2013
Electron Heating in a Relativistic, Weibel-Unstable Plasma Kumar, Rahul; Eichler, David; Gedalin, Michael The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 806, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/165	journal	June 2015
The microphysics of collisionless shock waves Marcowith, A.; Bret, A.; Bykov, A. Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 79, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/79/4/046901	journal	March 2016
The impact of kinetic effects on the properties of relativistic electron–positron shocks Stockem, Anne; Fiúza, Frederico; Fonseca, Ricardo A. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 54, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/54/12/125004	journal	November 2012
Particle acceleration and relativistic shocks Kirk, J. G.; Duffy, P. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, Vol. 25, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/0954-3899/25/8/201	journal	July 1999
Radiative Signatures of Relativistic Shocks Kirk, John G.; Reville, Brian The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 710, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/710/1/L16	journal	January 2010
Three-Dimensional Modeling of Relativistic Collisionless Ion-Electron Shocks Haugbølle, Troels The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 739, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/739/2/L42	journal	September 2011
The acceleration of cosmic rays in shock fronts - I Bell, A. R. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 182, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/182.2.147	journal	February 1978
Electron and ion acceleration in relativistic shocks with applications to GRB afterglows Warren, Donald C.; Ellison, Donald C.; Bykov, Andrei M. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 452, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv1304	journal	July 2015
Perpendicular relativistic shocks in magnetized pair plasma Plotnikov, Illya; Grassi, Anna; Grech, Mickael Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 477, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty979	journal	April 2018
On the Origin of the Cosmic Radiation Fermi, Enrico Physical Review, Vol. 75, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.75.1169	journal	April 1949
Exact analytical model of the classical Weibel instability in a relativistic anisotropic plasma Yoon, Peter H.; Davidson, Ronald C. Physical Review A, Vol. 35, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.35.2718	journal	March 1987
Physics of relativistic collisionless shocks: The scattering-center frame Pelletier, Guy; Gremillet, Laurent; Vanthieghem, Arno Physical Review E, Vol. 100, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.013205	journal	July 2019
Physics of relativistic collisionless shocks. II. Dynamics of the background plasma Lemoine, Martin; Vanthieghem, Arno; Pelletier, Guy Physical Review E, Vol. 100, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.033209	journal	September 2019
Physics of relativistic collisionless shocks. III. The suprathermal particles Lemoine, Martin; Pelletier, Guy; Vanthieghem, Arno Physical Review E, Vol. 100, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.033210	journal	September 2019
Exact relativistic kinetic theory of the full unstable spectrum of an electron-beam–plasma system with Maxwell-Jüttner distribution functions Bret, A.; Gremillet, L.; Bénisti, D. Physical Review E, Vol. 81, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.81.036402	journal	March 2010
Merging of Super-Alfvénic Current Filaments during Collisionless Weibel Instability of Relativistic Electron Beams Polomarov, Oleg; Kaganovich, Igor; Shvets, Gennady Physical Review Letters, Vol. 101, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.175001	journal	October 2008
Physics of Weibel-Mediated Relativistic Collisionless Shocks Lemoine, Martin; Gremillet, Laurent; Pelletier, Guy Physical Review Letters, Vol. 123, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.035101	journal	July 2019
Spontaneously Growing Transverse Waves in a Plasma Due to an Anisotropic Velocity Distribution Weibel, Erich S. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 2, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.2.83	journal	February 1959
Energy Spectra of Cosmic Rays Accelerated at Ultrarelativistic Shock Waves Bednarz, J.; Ostrowski, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 80, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.3911	journal	May 1998
The physics of gamma-ray bursts Piran, Tsvi Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 76, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.76.1143	journal	January 2005
Relativistic Fermi acceleration with shock compressed turbulence Lemoine, M.; Revenu, B. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 366, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09912.x	journal	February 2006
On electromagnetic instabilities at ultra-relativistic shock waves: Instabilities at ultra-relativistic shock waves Lemoine, Martin; Pelletier, Guy Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 402, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15869.x	journal	November 2009
Physics and Phenomenology of Weakly Magnetized, Relativistic Astrophysical Shock Waves Vanthieghem, Arno; Lemoine, Martin; Plotnikov, Illya Galaxies, Vol. 8, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies8020033	journal	April 2020

Similar Records

Fermi-type particle acceleration from magnetic reconnection at the termination shock of a relativistic striped wind

Journal Article · Sun Jan 31 19:00:00 EST 2021 · The Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:1874913

LONG-WAVELENGTH UNSTABLE MODES IN THE FAR UPSTREAM OF RELATIVISTIC COLLISIONLESS SHOCKS

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:21578226

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
fermi acceleration
magnetic anisotropy
particle acceleration
particle-in-cell method
plasma instabilities
plasma properties and parameters

Fermi acceleration in relativistic collisionless plasma shocks correlates with anisotropic energy gains

Citation Formats

References (51)

Similar Records

Related Subjects