Change of a Weibel-type to an Alfv\'enic shock in pair plasma by upstream waves

26 May 2020  ·  Dieckmann M E, Riordan J D, Pe'er A ·

We examine with particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations how a parallel shock in pair plasma reacts to upstream waves, which are driven by escaping downstream particles. Initially, the shock is sustained in the two-dimensional simulation by a magnetic filamentation (beam-Weibel) instability. Escaping particles drive an electrostatic beam instability upstream. Modifications of the upstream plasma by these waves hardly affect the shock. In time, a decreasing density and increasing temperature of the escaping particles quench the beam instability. A larger thermal energy along than perpendicular to the magnetic field destabilizes the pair-Alfv\'en mode. In the rest frame of the upstream plasma, the group velocity of the growing pair-Alfv\'en waves is below that of the shock and the latter catches up with the waves. Accumulating pair-Alfv\'en waves gradually change the shock in the two-dimensional simulation from a Weibel-type shock into an Alfv\'enic shock with a Mach number that is about 6 for our initial conditions.

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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Plasma Physics