Growth and propagation of self-generated magnetic dipole vortices in collisionless shocks produced by interpenetrating plasmas
Abstract
Collisionless shocks generated by colliding relativistic plasmas are studied using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The shock is produced due to the Weibel instabilities that generate current and density filaments and small-scale magnetic fields that are amplified from initial fluctuations. Localized regions of the strong magnetic field in the form of magnetic dipole vortices upstream of the shock are observed in the simulation developed during the nonlinear evolution of the electron and ion filaments. The vortices developing from the merger and subsequent pinching of the small-scale filaments are shown to be moving in the direction opposite to that of the shock. We also found an analytical estimate of the drift velocity of the vortices that are confirmed by the PIC simulations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.5008278
Entities
People
- G. Shvets
- N. Naseri
- P. Ruan
- S. G. Bochkarev
- Valery Bychenkov
- Vladimir Khudik
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Cornell University
- Russian Science Foundation
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Texas at Austin