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The evolution of the Buneman and two-stream instabilities driven by a cold dilute mildly relativistic electron beam is studied as a function of the ion-to-electron mass ratio. The growth rates of both instabilities are comparable for the selected parameters if the realistic ion-to-electron mass ratio is used and the Buneman instability outgrows the two-stream instability for an artificially reduced mass ratio. Particle-in-cell simulations show that both instabilities grow independently during their linear growth phase. The much lower saturation amplitude of the Buneman instability implies that it saturates first even if the linear growth rates of both instabilities are equal. The electron phase space holes it drives coalesce. Their spatial size increases in time and they start interacting with the two-stream mode, which results in the growth of electrostatic waves over a broad range of wave numbers. A reduced ion-to-electron mass ratio results in increased ion heating and in an increased energy loss of the relativistic electron beam compared to that in a simulation with the correct mass ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of a magnetized high-pressure plasma into a low-pressure ambient medium is examined with particle-in-cell simulations. The magnetic field points perpendicular to the plasma's expansion direction and binary collisions between particles are absent. The expanding plasma steepens into a quasi-electrostatic shock that is sustained by the lower-hybrid (LH) wave. The ambipolar electric field points in the expansion direction and it induces together with the background magnetic field a fast E cross B drift of electrons. The drifting electrons modify the background magnetic field, resulting in its pile-up by the LH shock. The magnetic pressure gradient force accelerates the ambient ions ahead of the LH shock, reducing the relative velocity between the ambient plasma and the LH shock to about the phase speed of the shocked LH wave, transforming the LH shock into a nonlinear LH wave. The oscillations of the electrostatic potential have a larger amplitude and wavelength in the magnetized plasma than in an unmagnetized one with otherwise identical conditions. The energy loss to the drifting electrons leads to a noticeable slowdown of the LH shock compared to that in an unmagnetized plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin-shell instability is one process which can generate entangled structures in astrophysical plasma on collisional (fluid) scales. It is driven by a spatially varying imbalance between the ram pressure of the inflowing upstream plasma and the downstream's thermal pressure at a nonplanar shock. Here we show by means of a particle-in-cell simulation that an analog process can destabilize a thin shell formed by two interpenetrating, unmagnetized, and collisionless plasma clouds. The amplitude of the shell's spatial modulation grows and saturates after about ten inverse proton plasma frequencies, when the shell consists of connected piecewise linear patches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plasma dynamics resulting from the simultaneous impact, of two equal, ultra-intense laser pulses, in two spatially separated spots, onto a dense target is studied via particle-in-cell simulations. The simulations show that electrons accelerated to relativistic speeds cross the target and exit at its rear surface. Most energetic electrons are bound to the rear surface by the ambipolar electric field and expand along it. Their current is closed by a return current in the target, and this current configuration generates strong surface magnetic fields. The two electron sheaths collide at the midplane between the laser impact points. The magnetic repulsion between the counter-streaming electron beams separates them along the surface normal direction, before they can thermalize through other beam instabilities. This magnetic repulsion is also the driving mechanism for the beam-Weibel (filamentation) instability, which is thought to be responsible for magnetic field growth close to the internal shocks of gamma-ray burst jets. The relative strength of this repulsion compared to the competing electrostatic interactions, which is evidenced by the simulations, suggests that the filamentation instability can be examined in an experimental setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest in relativistic beam-plasma instabilities has been greatly rejuvenated over the past two decades by novel concepts in laboratory and space plasmas. Recent advances in this long-standing field are here reviewed from both theoretical and numerical points of view. The primary focus is on the two-dimensional spectrum of unstable electromagnetic waves growing within relativistic, unmagnetized, and uniform electron beam-plasma systems. Although the goal is to provide a unified picture of all instability classes at play, emphasis is put on the potentially dominant waves propagating obliquely to the beam direction, which have received little attention over the years. First, the basic derivation of the general dielectric function of a kinetic relativistic plasma is recalled. Next, an overview of two-dimensional unstable spectra associated with various beam-plasma distribution functions is given. Both cold-fluid and kinetic linear theory results are reported, the latter being based on waterbag and Maxwell-Jüttner model distributions. The main properties of the competing modes (developing parallel, transverse, and oblique to the beam) are given, and their respective region of dominance in the system parameter space is explained. Later sections address particle-in-cell numerical simulations and the nonlinear evolution of multidimensional beam-plasma systems. The elementary structures generated by the various instability classes are first discussed in the case of reduced-geometry systems. Validation of linear theory is then illustrated in detail for large-scale systems, as is the multistaged character of the nonlinear phase. Finally, a collection of closely related beam-plasma problems involving additional physical effects is presented, and worthwhile directions of future research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-dimensional particle simulation models the collision of two electron-ion plasma clouds along a quasiparallel magnetic field. The collision speed is 0.9c and the density ratio, 10. A current sheet forms at the front of the dense cloud, in which the electrons and the magnetic field reach energy equipartition with the ions. A structure composed of a solenoidal and a toroidal magnetic field grows in this sheet. It resembles the cross-section of the torus of a spheromak, which may provide the coherent magnetic fields in gamma-ray burst jets needed for their prompt emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two counterpropagating cool and equally dense electron beams are modeled with particle-in-cell simulations. The electron beam filamentation instability is examined in one spatial dimension, which is an approximation for a quasiplanar filament boundary. It is confirmed that the force on the electrons imposed by the electrostatic field, which develops during the nonlinear stage of the instability, oscillates around a mean value that equals the magnetic pressure gradient force. The forces acting on the electrons due to the electrostatic and the magnetic field have a similar strength. The electrostatic field reduces the confining force close to the stable equilibrium of each filament and increases it farther away, limiting the peak density. The confining time-averaged total potential permits an overlap of current filaments with an opposite flow direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine wave-particle interactions in a magnetized plasma. We present snapshots of an animation of the three-dimensional electron phase space distribution produced by an electrostatic wave propagating across a magnetic field. The distribution function has been evolved by a particle in cell simulation. The electron phase space has been visualized by distributing the simulation electrons over an array representing phase space density and by volume rendering this array. The results are, due to the choice of initial plasma and wave parameters, of relevance for electron acceleration at astrophysical shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collisionless quasiperpendicular shocks with magnetoacoustic Mach numbers exceeding a certain threshold are known to reflect a fraction of the upstream ion population. These reflected ions drive instabilities which, in a magnetized plasma, can give rise to electron acceleration. In the case of shocks associated with supernova remnants (SNRs), electrons energized in this way may provide a seed population for subsequent acceleration to highly relativistic energies. If the plasma is weakly magnetized, in the sense that the electron cyclotron frequency is much smaller than the electron plasma frequency ω[sub p], a Buneman instability occurs at ω[sub p]. The nonlinear evolution of this instability is examined using particle-in-cell simulations, with initial parameters which are representative of SNR shocks. For simplicity, the magnetic field is taken to be strictly zero. It is shown that the instability saturates as a result of electrons being trapped by the wave potential. Subsequent evolution of the waves depends on the temperature of the background protons T[sub i] and the size of the simulation box L. If T[sub i] is comparable to the initial electron temperature T[sub e], and L is equal to one Buneman wavelength λ[sub 0], the wave partially collapses into low frequency waves and backscattered waves at around ω[sub p]. If, on the other hand, T[sub i]>T[sub e] and L=λ[sub 0], two high frequency waves remain in the plasma. One of these waves, excited at a frequency slightly lower than ω[sub p], may be a Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal mode. The other wave, excited at a frequency well above ω[sub p], is driven by the relative streaming of trapped and untrapped electrons. In a simulation with L=4λ[sub 0], the Buneman wave collapses on a time scale consistent with the excitation of sideband instabilities. Highly energetic electrons were not observed in any of these simulations, suggesting that the Buneman instability ca... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]