Loading…

Electrostatic Potentials in Supernova Remnant Shocks

Recent advances in the understanding of the properties of supernova remnant shocks have been precipitated by theChandra and XMM X-ray Observatories, and the HESS Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope in the TeV band. A critical problem for this field is the understanding of the relative degree of dissipati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysics and space science 2007-01, Vol.307 (1-3), p.165-168
Main Authors: Baring, Matthew G, Summerlin, Errol J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recent advances in the understanding of the properties of supernova remnant shocks have been precipitated by theChandra and XMM X-ray Observatories, and the HESS Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope in the TeV band. A critical problem for this field is the understanding of the relative degree of dissipative heating/energization of electrons and ions in the shock layer. This impacts the interpretation of X-ray observations, and moreover influences the efficiency of injection into the acceleration process, which in turn feeds back into the thermal shock layer energetics and dynamics. This paper outlines the first stages of our exploration of the role of charge separation potentials in non-relativistic electron-ion shocks where the inertial gyro-scales are widely disparate, using results from a Monte Carlo simulation. Charge density spatial profiles were obtained in the linear regime, sampling the inertial scales for both ions and electrons, for different magnetic field obliquities. These were readily integrated to acquire electric field profiles in the absence of self-consistent, spatial readjustments between the electrons and the ions. It was found that while diffusion plays little role in modulating the linear field structure in highly oblique and perpendicular shocks, in quasi-parallel shocks, where charge separations induced by gyrations are small, and shock-layer electric fields are predominantly generated on diffusive scales.
ISSN:0004-640X
1572-946X
DOI:10.1007/s10509-006-9254-1