Collisionless shock in a relativistically hot unmagnetized electron-positron plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates collisionless shocks in relativistically hot unmagnetized electron-positron plasmas, showing magnetic field generation and dissipation characteristics relevant to gamma-ray burst afterglows.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of magnetic field generation and decay in hot relativistic electron-positron shocks using PIC simulations.

Findings

Magnetic fields are generated by Weibel instability at the shock front.

No particle acceleration observed within simulation time.

Magnetic field decay rate depends on shock velocity.

Abstract

In this work, we investigate collisionless shocks propagating in a relativistically hot unmagnetized electron-positron plasmas. We estimate the dissipation fraction at shocks in the relativistically hot plasma, showing that it is sufficiently large to explain the observation of gamma-ray bursts even when the shock is not highly relativistic. It is shown by two-dimensional particle in cell simulations that magnetic fields are generated around the shock front by the Weibel instability, as in the cold upstream plasma. However, in contrast to the cold upstream plasma, no particles are accelerated at the shock in the simulation time of $t = 3600 \omega_p^{-1}$. The decay of the magnetic field in the downstream region is slower for slower shock velocities in the hot plasma cases. Applying the slow decay of the downstream magnetic field, we propose a model that generate magnetic fields in large downstream region, which is required from the standard model of the gamma-ray burst afterglow.