Strong astrophysical collisionless shocks: where their energy goes in?

Physics – Plasma Physics

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Scientific paper

Large scale supersonic gas motions end up in shock waves. Generally, their energy goes into the thermal energy. In astrophysical shocks, however, a significant part of it is channeled into a small number of suprathermal particles. This is because such shocks are large and long-lived so that these particles undergo the I order Fermi acceleration. The process is simple but the shock energy distribution between thermal and non-thermal populations is subtle and ambiguous. In a steady state the pressure of accelerated particles as a function of their number develops an S-curve. However, some parameters still evolve in time so that the system, being, e.g., in high-state has the clear tendency to return to the low-state as well as to make the S-type response milder. The opposite is also true. To reconcile these tendencies we argue that the system must fluctuate at a critical state where the S-curve appears only marginally. This condition constraints a number of important acceleration parameters such as the maximum particle energy.

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