Criteria for ion acceleration in laboratory magnetized quasi-perpendicular collisionless shocks: when are 2D simulations enough?

Abstract

The study of collisionless shocks and their role in cosmic ray acceleration has gained importance through observations and simulations, driving interest in reproducing these conditions in laboratory experiments using high-power lasers. In this work, we examine the role of three-dimensional (3D) effects in ion acceleration in quasi-perpendicular shocks under laboratory-relevant conditions. Using hybrid particle-in-cell simulations (kinetic ions and fluid electrons), we explore how the Alfvénic and sonic Mach numbers, along with plasma beta, influence ion energization, unlocked only in 3D, and establish scaling criteria for when conducting 3D simulations is necessary. Our results show that efficient ion acceleration requires Alfvénic Mach numbers $\ge 25$ and sonic Mach numbers $\ge 13$, with plasma-$\beta \le 5$. We theoretically found that, while 2D simulations suffice for current laboratory-accessible shock conditions, 3D effects become crucial for shock velocities exceeding 1000 km/s and experiments sustaining the shock for at least 10 ns. We surveyed previous laboratory experiments on collisionless shocks and found that 3D effects are unimportant under those conditions, implying that 1D and 2D simulations should be enough to model the accelerated ion spectra. However, we do find that the same experiments are realistically close to accessing the regime relevant to 3D effects, an exciting prospect for future laboratory efforts. We propose modifications to past experimental configurations to optimize and control 3D effects on ion acceleration. These proposed experiments could be used to benchmark plasma astrophysics kinetic codes and/or employed as controllable sources of energetic particles.

arXiv comment15 pages, 6 figures. Few comments and clarifications added, results unchanged. Matches version published by PoP

References in corpus (47)

• Cosmic rays in galaxy clusters and their non-thermal emission
• Simulations of Ion Acceleration at Non-relativistic Shocks. I. Acceleration Efficiency
• Particle Acceleration on Megaparsec Scales in a Merging Galaxy Cluster
• Circumstellar Emission from Type Ib and Ic Supernovae
• Strong evidences of hadron acceleration in Tycho's Supernova Remnant
• The microphysics of collisionless shock waves
• Simulations of Ion Acceleration at Non-relativistic Shocks. II. Magnetic Field Amplification
• Chandra Temperature Maps for Galaxy Clusters with Radio Halos
• First detection of VHE gamma-rays from SN 1006 by H.E.S.S
• Simulations and Theory of Ion Injection at Non-relativistic Collisionless Shocks
• Non-Thermal Electron Acceleration in Low Mach Number Collisionless Shocks. I. Particle Energy Spectra and Acceleration Mechanism
• Charged-Particle Motion in Electromagnetic Fields Having at Least One Ignorable Spatial Coordinate
• Cosmic-ray acceleration in supernova remnants: non-linear theory revised
• Morphological evidence for azimuthal variations of the cosmic ray ion acceleration at the blast wave of SN 1006
• Simulations of Ion Acceleration at Non-relativistic Shocks. III. Particle Diffusion
• Non-Thermal Electron Acceleration in Low Mach Number Collisionless Shocks. II. Firehose-Mediated Fermi Acceleration and its Dependence on Pre-Shock Conditions
• Electron Shock Surfing Acceleration in Multidimensions: Two-dimensional Particle-In-Cell Simulation of Collisionless Perpendicular Shock
• Generation and Evolution of High-Mach Number, Laser-Driven Magnetized Collisionless Shocks in the Laboratory
• The Radio Relics and Halo of El Gordo, a Massive $z=0.870$ Cluster Merger
• Electron Surfing and Drift Accelerations in a Weibel-dominated High-Mach-number Shock
• Electron Injection at High Mach Number Quasi-Perpendicular Shocks : Surfing and Drift Acceleration
• Relativistic electrons produced by foreshock disturbances
• dHybrid: a massively parallel code for hybrid simulations of space plasmas
• Kinetic Simulations of Cosmic-Ray-Modified Shocks II: Particle Spectra
• Electron acceleration in non-relativistic quasi-perpendicular collisionless shocks
• Nonrelativistic collisionless shocks in weakly magnetized electron--ion plasmas: two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation of perpendicular shock
• Kinetic Simulations of Cosmic-Ray-Modified Shocks I: Hydrodynamics
• Chemical Enhancements in Shock-accelerated Particles: Ab-initio Simulations
• Diffusive Shock Re-Acceleration
• Nonthermal Emission from Accreting and Merging Clusters of Galaxies
• A database of MMS bow shock crossings compiled using machine learning
• Electron Preacceleration in Weak Quasi-perpendicular Shocks in High-beta Intracluster Medium
• Particle Velocity Distributions in Developing Magnetized Collisionless Shocks in Laser-Produced Plasmas
• Magnetic field amplification by the Weibel instability at planetary and astrophysical high-Mach-number shocks
• Constraints on local interstellar magnetic field from non-thermal emission of SN1006
• dHybridR: a Hybrid--Particle-in-Cell Code Including Relativistic Ion Dynamics
• Kinetic simulations of nonrelativistic perpendicular shocks of young supernova remnants. I. Electron shock-surfing acceleration
• Laboratory evidence for proton energization by collisionless shock surfing
• Effects of Multi-scale Plasma Waves on Electron Preacceleration at Weak Quasi-perpendicular Intracluster Shocks
• The supernova remnant SN 1006 as a Galactic particle accelerator
• Non-thermal particle acceleration at highly oblique non-relativistic shocks
• High-power laser experiment forming a supercritical collisionless shock in a magnetized uniform plasma at rest
• Cosmic Ray Acceleration and Nonthermal Radiation at Accretion Shocks in the Outer Regions of Galaxy Clusters
• Electron Preacceleration at Weak Quasi-perpendicular Intracluster Shocks: Effects of Preexisting Nonthermal Electrons
• Enhanced Magnetic Field Amplification by Ion-Beam Weibel Instability in Weakly Magnetized Astrophysical Shocks
• Pre-acceleration in the Electron Foreshock II: Oblique Whistler Waves
• Mach Number Dependence of Ion-scale Kinetic Instability at Collisionless Perpendicular Shock: Condition for Weibel-dominated Shock

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Acceleration of Heavy Ions at Non-Relativistic Collisionless Shocks
• Ion Weibel Instability in the hybrid framework: the optimal resolution