| Title: | Magnetic vortex growth in the transition layer of a mildly relativistic plasma shock
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| Authors: | Gareth C. Murphy, Mark E. Dieckmann and Luke O'C Drury, 2010 |
| Abstract: | A two-dimensional particle simulation models the collision of two electron-ion plasma clouds along a quasiparallel magnetic field. The collision speed is 0.9c and the density ratio, 10. A current sheet forms at the front of the dense cloud, in which the electrons and the magnetic field reach energy equipartition with the ions. A structure composed of a solenoidal and a toroidal magnetic field grows in this sheet. It resembles the cross-section of the torus of a spheromak, which may provide the coherent magnetic fields in gamma-ray burst jets needed for their prompt emissions. |
| ICHEC Project: | Particle acceleration and magnetic field amplification in near and mildly relativistic shocks |
| Publication: | Physics of Plasmas |
| URL: | http://pop.aip.org/resource/1/phpaen/v17/i11/p110701_s1?isAuthorized=no |
| Keywords: | plasma collision processes, plasma density, plasma jets, plasma magnetohydrodynamics, plasma shock waves, plasma simulation, plasma toroidal confinement, relativistic plasmas |
| Status: | Accepted |
