Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Simulations of Electron Acceleration at Collisionless Shocks: The Effects of Surface Fluctuations

FREE

D. Burgess1

Show affiliations


Energetic electrons are a common feature of interplanetary shocks and planetary bow shocks, and they are invoked as a key component of models of nonthermal radio emission, such as solar radio bursts. A simulation study is carried out of electron acceleration for high Mach number, quasi-perpendicular shocks, typical of the shocks in the solar wind. Two-dimensional self-consistent hybrid shock simulations provide the electric and magnetic fields in which test particle electrons are followed. A range of different shock types, shock normal angles, and injection energies are studied. When the Mach number is low, or the simulation configuration suppresses fluctuations along the magnetic field direction, the results agree with theory assuming magnetic moment conserving reflection (or fast Fermi acceleration), with electron energy gains of a factor only 2-3. For high Mach numbers, with a realistic simulation configuration, the shock front has a dynamic rippled character. The corresponding electron energization is radically different: energy spectra display (1) considerably higher maximum energies than fast Fermi acceleration; (2) a plateau or shallow sloped region at intermediate energies 2-5 times the injection energy; (3) power-law falloff with increasing energy, for both upstream and downstream particles, with a slope decreasing as the shock normal angle approaches perpendicular; (4) sustained flux levels over a broader region of shock normal angle than for adiabatic reflection. All these features are in good qualitative agreement with observations, and show that dynamic structure in the shock surface at ion scales produces effective scattering and can be responsible for making high Mach number shocks effective sites for electron acceleration.


Subject headings

acceleration of particles; magnetic fields; shock waves


Dates

Issue 1 (2006 December 10)

Received 2006 July 21, accepted for publication 2006 August 29



Users also read

What's this?
This innovative new feature generates a list of articles 'also read' by other users based on them reading the original article. Article abstracts citations and references are all considered and weighted accordingly. We hope that this will help you find relevant papers for your research.

  1. Suppression of Reflected Electrons by Kinetic Alfvén Turbulence in a Quasi-perpendicular Shock: Particle-in-cell Simulations

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.