Low Mach-number collisionless electrostatic shocks and associated ion acceleration
Journal article, 2018

The existence and properties of low Mach-number electrostatic collisionless shocks are investigated with a semi-analytical solution for the shock structure. We show that the properties of the shock obtained in the semi-analytical model can be well reproduced in fully kinetic Eulerian Vlasov-Poisson simulations, where the shock is generated by the decay of an initial density discontinuity. Using this semi-analytical model, we study the effect of electron-to-ion temperature ratio and presence of impurities on both the maximum shock potential and Mach number. We find that even a small amount of impurities can influence the shock properties significantly, including the reflected light ion fraction, which can change several orders of magnitude. Electrostatic shocks in heavy ion plasmas reflect most of the hydrogen impurity ions.

Vlasov

impurities

continuum simulations

collisionless shock

ion acceleration

Author

Istvan Pusztai

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic and Plasma Physics

J M Tenbarge

Princeton University

University of Maryland

Aletta Csapo

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic and Plasma Physics

J Juno

University of Maryland

A Hakim

Longqing Yi

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic and Plasma Physics

Tünde Fülöp

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic and Plasma Physics

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

0741-3335 (ISSN) 1361-6587 (eISSN)

Vol. 60 3 035004

Roots

Basic sciences

Subject Categories

Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics

DOI

10.1088/1361-6587/aaa2cc

More information

Latest update

4/5/2022 6