2,174 research outputs found
Multidimensional simulations of magnetic field amplification and electron acceleration to near-energy equipartition with ions by a mildly relativistic quasi-parallel plasma collision
The energetic electromagnetic eruptions observed during the prompt phase of
gamma-ray bursts are attributed to synchrotron emissions. The internal shocks
moving through the ultrarelativistic jet, which is ejected by an imploding
supermassive star, are the likely source of this radiation. Synchrotron
emissions at the observed strength require the simultaneous presence of
powerful magnetic fields and highly relativistic electrons. We explore with one
and three-dimensional relativistic particle-in-cell simulations the transition
layer of a shock, that evolves out of the collision of two plasma clouds at a
speed 0.9c and in the presence of a quasi-parallel magnetic field. The cloud
densities vary by a factor of 10. The number densities of ions and electrons in
each cloud, which have the mass ratio 250, are equal. The peak Lorentz factor
of the electrons is determined in the 1D simulation, as well as the orientation
and the strength of the magnetic field at the boundary of the two colliding
clouds. The relativistic masses of the electrons and ions close to the shock
transition layer are comparable as in previous work. The 3D simulation shows
rapid and strong plasma filamentation behind the transient precursor. The
magnetic field component orthogonal to the initial field direction is amplified
in both simulations to values that exceed those expected from the shock
compression by over an order of magnitude. The forming shock is
quasi-perpendicular due to this amplification. The simultaneous presence of
highly relativistic electrons and strong magnetic fields will give rise to
significant synchrotron emissions.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. This work was presented at 21st International
Conference on Numerical Simulation of Plasmas (ICNSP'09). Accepted for
publication IEEE Trans. on Plasma Scienc
The filamentation instability driven by warm electron beams: Statistics and electric field generation
The filamentation instability of counterpropagating symmetric beams of
electrons is examined with 1D and 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, which
are oriented orthogonally to the beam velocity vector. The beams are uniform,
warm and their relative speed is mildly relativistic. The dynamics of the
filaments is examined in 2D and it is confirmed that their characteristic size
increases linearly in time. Currents orthogonal to the beam velocity vector are
driven through the magnetic and electric fields in the simulation plane. The
fields are tied to the filament boundaries and the scale size of the
flow-aligned and the perpendicular currents are thus equal. It is confirmed
that the electrostatic and the magnetic forces are equally important, when the
filamentation instability saturates in 1D. Their balance is apparently the
saturation mechanism of the filamentation instability for our initial
conditions. The electric force is relatively weaker but not negligible in the
2D simulation, where the electron temperature is set higher to reduce the
computational cost. The magnetic pressure gradient is the principal source of
the electrostatic field, when and after the instability saturates in the 1D
simulation and in the 2D simulation.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted by the Plasma Physics and Controlled
Fusion (Special Issue EPS 2009
Particle-in-cell simulation of a mildly relativistic collision of an electron-ion plasma carrying a quasi-parallel magnetic field: Electron acceleration and magnetic field amplification at supernova shocks
Plasma processes close to SNR shocks result in the amplification of magnetic
fields and in the acceleration of electrons, injecting them into the diffusive
acceleration mechanism. The acceleration of electrons and the B field
amplification by the collision of two plasma clouds, each consisting of
electrons and ions, at a speed of 0.5c is investigated. A quasi-parallel
guiding magnetic field, a cloud density ratio of 10 and a plasma temperature of
25 keV are considered. A quasi-planar shock forms at the front of the dense
plasma cloud. It is mediated by a circularly left-hand polarized
electromagnetic wave with an electric field component along the guiding
magnetic field. Its propagation direction is close to that of the guiding field
and orthogonal to the collision boundary. It has a low frequency and a
wavelength that equals several times the ion inertial length, which would be
indicative of a dispersive Alfven wave close to the ion cyclotron resonance
frequency of the left-handed mode (ion whistler), provided that the frequency
is appropriate. However, it moves with the super-alfvenic plasma collision
speed, suggesting that it is an Alfven precursor or a nonlinear MHD wave such
as a Short Large-Amplitude Magnetic Structure (SLAMS). The growth of the
magnetic amplitude of this wave to values well in excess of those of the
quasi-parallel guiding field and of the filamentation modes results in a
quasi-perpendicular shock. We present evidence for the instability of this mode
to a four wave interaction. The waves developing upstream of the dense cloud
give rise to electron acceleration ahead of the collision boundary. Energy
equipartition between the ions and the electrons is established at the shock
and the electrons are accelerated to relativistic speeds.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for publication by Astron & Astrophy
Trade-Off Geometries and Frequency-Dependent Selection
Life-history evolution is determined by the interplay between natural selection and adaptive constraints. The classical approach to studying constrained life-history evolution - Richard Levin's geometric comparison of fitness sets and adaptive functions - is applicable when selection pressures are frequency-independent. Here we extend this widely used tool to frequency-dependent selection. Such selection pressures very with a population's phenotypic composition, and are increasingly recognized as ubiquitous. Under frequency dependence, two independent properties have to be distinguished: evolutionary stability (an evolutionary stable strategy cannot be invaded once established) and convergence stability (only a convergence stable strategy can be attained through small, selectively advantageous steps). Combination of both properties results in four classes of possible evolutionary outcomes. We introduce a geometric mode of analysis that enables us to predict, for any bivariate selection problem, (1) evolutionary outcomes induced by trade-offs of given shape, (ii) shapes of trade-offs required for given evolutionary outcomes, (iii) the set of all evolutionary outcomes trade-off can induce, (iv) effects of ecological parameters on evolutionary outcomes independent of trade-off shape
Insights from unifying modern approximations to infections on networks
Networks are increasingly central to modern science owing to their ability to conceptualize multiple interacting components of a complex system. As a specific example of this, understanding the implications of contact network structure for the transmission of infectious diseases remains a key issue in epidemiology. Three broad approaches to this problem exist: explicit simulation; derivation of exact results for special networks; and dynamical approximations. This paper focuses on the last of these approaches, and makes two main contributions.
Firstly, formal mathematical links are demonstrated between several prima facie unrelated dynamical approximations. And secondly, these links are used to derive two novel dynamical models for network epidemiology, which are compared against explicit stochastic simulation. The success of these new models provides improved understanding about the interaction of network structure and transmission dynamics
How large can the electron to proton mass ratio be in Particle-In-Cell simulations of unstable systems?
Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are widely used as a tool to investigate
instabilities that develop between a collisionless plasma and beams of charged
particles. However, even on contemporary supercomputers, it is not always
possible to resolve the ion dynamics in more than one spatial dimension with
such simulations. The ion mass is thus reduced below 1836 electron masses,
which can affect the plasma dynamics during the initial exponential growth
phase of the instability and during the subsequent nonlinear saturation. The
goal of this article is to assess how far the electron to ion mass ratio can be
increased, without changing qualitatively the physics. It is first demonstrated
that there can be no exact similarity law, which balances a change of the mass
ratio with that of another plasma parameter, leaving the physics unchanged.
Restricting then the analysis to the linear phase, a criterion allowing to
define a maximum ratio is explicated in terms of the hierarchy of the linear
unstable modes. The criterion is applied to the case of a relativistic electron
beam crossing an unmagnetized electron-ion plasma.Comment: To appear in Physics of Plasma
Surfatron and stochastic acceleration of electrons in astrophysical plasmas
Electron acceleration by large amplitude electrostatic waves in astrophysical plasmas is studied using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The waves are excited initially at the electron plasma frequency by a Buneman instability driven by ion beams: the parameters of the ion beams are appropriate for high Mach number astrophysical shocks, such as those associated with supernova remnants (SNRs). If is much higher than the electron cyclotron frequency , the linear phase of the instability does not depend on the magnitude of the magnetic field. However, the subsequent time evolution of particles and waves depends on both and the size of the simulation box . If is equal to one wavelength, , of the Buneman-unstable mode, electrons trapped by the waves undergo acceleration via the surfatron mechanism across the wave front. This occurs most efficiently when : in this case electrons are accelerated to speeds of up where is the speed of light. In a simulation with and , it is found that sideband instabilities give rise to a broad spectrum of wavenumbers, with a power law tail. Some stochastic electron acceleration is observed in this case, but not the surfatron process. Direct integration of the electron equations of motion, using parameters approximating to those of the wave modes observed in the simulations, suggests that the surfatron is compatible with the presence of a broad wave spectrum if . It is concluded that a combination of stochastic and surfatron acceleration could provide an efficient generator of mildly relativistic electrons at SNR shocks
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