Monte Carlo Simulation of Collisionless Shock Acceleration.

Details Monte Carlo Simulation of Collisionless Shock Acceleration. Monte Carlo Simulation of Collisionless Shock Acceleration.

Mar 1982

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1982phdt........15e&link_type=abstract

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1982.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-11, Section: B

Physics

1

Scientific paper

A technique has been developed for modeling the first-order Fermi shock acceleration mechanism with a Monte Carlo simulation. The shock profile is self-consistently calculated including the back pressure of the accelerated particles and it is found that the shock is smoothed on the length scale of the mean free paths of the highest energy particles. This smoothing effect naturally produces a relative enhancement of high A/Z particles over protons if the mean free paths increase with rigidity. The Monte Carlo treatment of thermal particles allows calculation of the efficiency with which thermal ions are accelerated to high energies and it is found that strong shocks may put up to 40% of the shock kinetic energy into particles above 1 GeV. A detailed modeling of the diffuse ions observed upstream of the earth's bow shock is performed. This is a well studied laboratory for examining shock acceleration and the model reproduces most observations quite well (particularly the efficiency) with the possible exception of the He/H ratio. The shock smoothing effects produce a spectrum with a steep slope at low energies which flattens at higher energies. This effect is most pronounced for high Mach number shocks and may, when applied to a realistic model of an expanding supernova shock, produce a power law spectrum over several decades in energy with a slope steeper than the canonical -2.0 expected from a discontinuous shock. The technique developed is quite flexible and may be generalized to include relativistic effects, energy losses, and different forms for the diffusion coefficient.

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