Electron acceleration at rippled low-Mach-number shocks in high-beta collisionless cosmic plasmas
Authors:
- Oleh Kobzar,
- Jacek Niemiec,
- Takanobu Amano,
- Masahiro Hoshino,
- Shuichi Matsukiyo,
- Yosuke Matsumoto,
- Martin Pohl
Abstract
Using large-scale fully kinetic two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate the effects of shock rippling on electron acceleration at low-Mach-number shocks propagating in high-β plasmas, in application to merger shocks in galaxy clusters. We find that the electron-acceleration rate increases considerably when the rippling modes appear. The main acceleration mechanism is stochastic shock-drift acceleration, in which electrons are confined at the shock by pitch-angle scattering off turbulence and gain energy from the motional electric field. The presence of multiscale magnetic turbulence at the shock transition and the region immediately behind the main shock overshoot is essential for electron energization. Wide-energy non-thermal electron distributions are formed both upstream and downstream of the shock. The maximum energy of the electrons is sufficient for their injection into diffusive shock acceleration. We show for the first time that the downstream electron spectrum has a power-law form with index p ≈ 2.5, in agreement with observations.
- Record ID
- CUT63804a686f1343988dc522a773869930
- Publication categories
- ;
- Author
- Journal series
- Astrophysical Journal, ISSN 0004-637X, e-ISSN 1538-4357, Continuous
- Issue year
- 2021
- Vol
- 919
- No
- 2
- Pages
- [1-12]
- Other elements of collation
- rys.; wykr.; Bibliografia (na s.) - 12; Oznaczenie streszczenia - Abstr.; Numeracja w czasopiśmie - Vol. 919, Nr 2
- Keywords in English
- galaxy clusters, plasma astrophysics, shocks, computational methods
- DOI
- DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ac1107 Opening in a new tab
- URL
- https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac1107 Opening in a new tab
- Related project
- Przyspieszanie czastek i generacja turbulencji elektromagnetycznej w plazmie kosmicznej. . Project leader at PK: , ,
- Produkcja i propagacja cząstek wysokoenergetycznych w przestrzeni kosmicznej: od Układu Słonecznego i ośrodka międzygwiazdowego do supermasywnych czarnych dziur i gromad galaktyk. . Project leader at PK: , ,
- Fale uderzeniowe jako źródła wysokoenergetycznych cząstek. . Project leader at PK: , ,
- Przyspieszanie czastek i generacja turbulencji elektromagnetycznej w plazmie kosmicznej. . Project leader at PK: , ,
- Language
- eng (en) English
- Score (nominal)
- 140
- Additional fields
- Indeksowana w: Web of Science, Scopus
- Uniform Resource Identifier
- https://cris.pk.edu.pl/info/article/CUT63804a686f1343988dc522a773869930/
- URN
urn:pkr-prod:CUT63804a686f1343988dc522a773869930
* presented citation count is obtained through Internet information analysis, and it is close to the number calculated by the Publish or PerishOpening in a new tab system.