On the Role of Fast Shocks in Creating Relativistic Electrons in the Solar Corona

Details On the Role of Fast Shocks in Creating Relativistic Electrons in the Solar Corona On the Role of Fast Shocks in Creating Relativistic Electrons in the Solar Corona

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufmsh24a..05h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #SH24A-05

Physics

7514 Energetic Particles (2114), 7519 Flares, 7827 Kinetic And Mhd Theory, 7843 Numerical Simulation Studies

Scientific paper

The existence of fast shocks, at the interface between reconnection outflow jets and underlying magnetic loops, has been suggested by a number of researchers. Should they exist, fast shocks would provide an effective mechanism to convert a large fraction of the combined kinetic energy in the reconnection outflow into thermal energy of the shocked plasma. Since this process affects directly a large number of particles, it may provide a solution to the problem of explaining the number of electrons that are apparently involved in the generation of the high-energy X-ray signatures observed by RHESSI. In order to investigate this possibility further, we present the results of fully-electromagnetic, relativistic, particle-in-cell simulations of fast shock structure and evolution. In particular, we discuss the effect on downstream nonthermal electrons of parameters such as Mach number, plasma beta, and the angle between shock normal and the upstream magnetic field. We will compare our results to earlier kinetic studies of fast shocks, and provide an evaluation of the shock mechanism as a means to explain nonthermal, relativistic electron distributions such as expected in conjunction with RHESSI X-ray events.

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