The Influence of an Ambient Magnetic Field on Relativistic Collisionless Plasma Shocks.pdf
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DRAFT VERSION FEBRUARY 2, 2008
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Preprint typeset using LT X style emulateapj v. 5/14/03
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Received 2004 December 13; accepted 2005 March 15; published 2005 April
THE INFLUENCE OF AN AMBIENT MAGNETIC FIELD ON RELATIVISTIC COLLISIONLESS PLASMA SHOCKS
CHRISTIAN BUSK HEDEDAL AND KEN -ICHI N ISHIKAWA
Niels Bohr Institute, Deptartment of Astrophysics, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 København Ø, Denmark; and National Space Science and Technology Center
(NSSTC), Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Team, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805;
Draft version February 2, 2008
ABSTRACT
Plasma outflows from gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and relativistic jets, in general, interact with the sur-
rounding medium through collisionless shocks. The microphysics of such shocks are still poorly understood,
5 which, potentially, can introduce uncertainties in the interpretation of observations. It is now well established
0 that the Weibel two-stream instability is capable of generating strong electromagnetic fields in the transition re-
0 gion between the jet and the ambient plasma. However, the parameter space of collisionless shocks is vast and
2 still remains unexplored. In this Letter, we focus on how an ambient magnetic field affects the evolution of the
electron Weibel instability and the associated shock. Using a particle-in-cell code, we have performed three-
r
p dimensional numerical experiments on such shocks. We compare simulations in
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