Electron accelerations associated with magnetic turbulence in high-Mach-number collision-less shocks

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26400266
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Particle/Nuclear/Cosmic ray/Astro physics
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Matsumoto Yosuke 千葉大学, 大学院理学研究科, 特任准教授 (20397475)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 宇宙線加速 / 衝撃波 / プラズマ / ＰＩＣシミュレーション / 乱流リコネクション / 大規模数値計算

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have examined multidimensional structures of high-Mach-number shocks by means of ab initio particle-in-cell simulations using the supercomputer K. We found that large-amplitude electrostatic waves at the leading edge and the magnetic turbulence in the transition layer coexist in such a strong-shock structure. In particular, spontaneous turbulent reconnection in the transition layer was found to be important for energizing electrons under sufficiently high Mach number condition (Matsumoto et al., Science, 2015). Recent 3D simulations also revealed a stochastic drift acceleration to be essentially important for producing relativistic electrons.

Free Research Field

天体プラズマ物理学