Non-relativistic Collisionless Shocks in Unmagnetized Electron-Ion Plasmas

TL;DR

This study demonstrates through simulations that non-relativistic, unmagnetized electron-ion plasmas can form collisionless shocks mediated by the Weibel instability, with shock properties largely independent of shock velocity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulation-based analysis of non-relativistic Weibel-mediated shocks in unmagnetized electron-ion plasmas, highlighting their universal features.

Findings

Shock transition width is ~100 ion inertial lengths, independent of shock velocity.

Magnetic energy density reaches 1-2% of upstream kinetic energy.

Shock profiles are nearly independent of upstream bulk velocity.

Abstract

We show that the Weibel-mediated collisionless shocks are driven at non-relativistic propagation speed (0.1c < V < 0.45c) in unmagnetized electron-ion plasmas by performing two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is shown that the profiles of the number density and the mean velocity in the vicinity of the shock transition region, which are normalized by the respective upstream values, are almost independent of the upstream bulk velocity, i.e., the shock velocity. In particular, the width of the shock transition region is ~100 ion inertial length independent of the shock velocity. For these shocks the energy density of the magnetic field generated by the Weibel-type instability within the shock transition region reaches typically 1-2% of the upstream bulk kinetic energy density. This mechanism probably explains the robust formation of collisionless shocks, for example, driven by young supernova remnants, with no assumption of external magnetic field in the universe.