The Importance of Heat Flux in Quasi-Parallel Collisionless Shocks

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through simulations that non-thermal particles significantly influence the dynamics of collisionless quasi-parallel shocks by contributing to upstream heat flux, affecting shock properties and requiring revised theoretical models.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent hybrid simulation approach revealing the feedback of non-thermal particles on shock hydrodynamics and revises the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions accordingly.

Findings

Non-thermal particles contribute to upstream heat flux.

Shock compression ratio increases due to particle leakage.

Revised shock theory matches simulation results.

Abstract

Collisionless plasma shocks are a common feature of many space and astrophysical systems and are sources of high-energy particles and non-thermal emission, channeling as much as 20\% of the shock's energy into non-thermal particles. The generation and acceleration of these non-thermal particles have been extensively studied, however, how these particles feed back on the shock hydrodynamics has not been fully treated. This work presents the results of self-consistent hybrid particle-in-cell simulations that show the effect of self-generated non-thermal particle populations on the nature of collisionless, quasi-parallel shocks. They contribute to a significant heat flux density upstream of the shock. Non-thermal particles downstream of the shock leak into the upstream region, taking energy away from the shock. This increases the compression ratio, slows the shock down, and flattens the non-thermal population's spectral index for lower Mach number shocks. We incorporate this into a revised theory for the Rankine-Hugoniot jump conditions that include this effect and it shows excellent agreement with simulations. The results have the potential to explain discrepancies between predictions and observations in a wide range of systems, such as inaccuracies of predictions of arrival times of coronal mass ejections and the conflicting radio and x-ray observations of intracluster shocks. These effects will likely need to be included in fluid modeling to accurately predict shock evolution.