2006/11/01 by Yuri Lyubarsky · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Atomic physics #Computational physics #Electron #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Instability #Mechanics #Nuclear physics #Optics #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Shock (circulatory) #Shock wave #Shock waves in astrophysics #Synchrotron #Synchrotron radiation #Weibel instability #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/508606
published as Astrophys.J.652:1297-1305,2006 · 22 pages, 10 figures. To appear in ApJ vol. 653
arxiv created 2006/11/01 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We argue and demonstrate by particle-in-cell simulations that the synchrotron maser instability could develop at the front of a relativistic, magnetized shock. The instability generates strong low-frequency electromagnetic waves propagating both upstream and downstream of the shock. Upstream of the shock, these waves make electrons lag behind ions so that a longitudinal electric field arises and the electrons are accelerated up to the ion kinetic energy. Then thermalization at the shock front results in a plasma with equal temperatures of electrons and ions. Downstream of the shock, the amplitude of the maser-generated wave may exceed the strength of the shock-compressed background magnetic field. In this case the shock-accelerated particles radiate via nonlinear Compton scattering rather than via a synchrotron mechanism. The spectrum of the radiation differs, in the low-frequency band, from that of the synchrotron radiation, providing possible observational tests of the model.