Structure of a collisionless shock front with relativistically accelerated particles |
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Authors: | I N Toptygin |
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Institution: | (1) St. Petersburg State Technical University, 195251 St. Petersburg, Russia |
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Abstract: | A nonlinear self-consistent analytic theory is developed to describe the front structure of a strong magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)
collisionless shock wave that generates accelerated particles (including ultrarelativistic particles). The theory is used
to predict the degree of compression of matter at the plane front of such a wave, which can greatly exceed compression at
an ordinary gas-dynamic front, and also the velocity, density, and pressure profiles. The energy spectrum of the accelerated
particles, which is produced by the complex velocity profile at the shock transition, is determined self-consistently. New
nonlinear effects are predicted that have not been discussed previously in the literature: a strong dependence of the particle
acceleration regimes on the rate of injection; the existence of several regimes within a certain range of injected powers
with differing spectra of accelerated particles, shapes of the shock transition profile, and magnitudes of compression of
the medium; and the possibility of spontaneous jumps between different states of the shock transition. The question of stability
of these states is discussed. For the values of the system parameters used here, the nonlinear regimes correspond to extremely
low injection rates, of order 10−2–10−10 of the plasma flux density advancing into the front, and to exponents of the power-law spectra of accelerated particles between
5 and 3.
Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1584–1602 (November 1997) |
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