Two-dimensional particle simulation of the boundary between a hot pair plasma and magnetized electrons and protons: Out-of-plane magnetic field

Author:

Dieckmann M. E.1ORCID,Folini D.2ORCID,Walder R.2ORCID,Charlet A.234ORCID,Marcowith A.3ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Science and Technology (ITN), Linköping University, 60174 Norrköping, Sweden

2. Univ Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Univ Lyon 1, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon UMR5574, F-69230 Saint-Genis-Laval, France

3. Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier (LUPM), Université de Montpellier, CNRS/IN2P3, CC72, place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

4. Astrophysics Research Center of the Open University (ARCO), The Open University of Israel, P.O. Box 808, Ra'anana 4353701, Israel

Abstract

By means of a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation, we study the interaction between a uniform magnetized ambient electron–proton plasma at rest and an unmagnetized pair plasma, which we inject at one simulation boundary with a mildly relativistic mean speed and temperature. The magnetic field points out of the simulation plane. The injected pair plasma expels the magnetic field and piles it up at its front. It traps ambient electrons and drags them across the protons. An electric field grows, which accelerates protons into the pair cloud's expansion direction. This electromagnetic pulse separates the pair cloud from the ambient plasma. Electrons and positrons, which drift in the pulse's nonuniform field, trigger an instability that disrupts the current sheet ahead of the pulse. The wave vector of the growing perturbation is orthogonal to the magnetic field direction and magnetic tension cannot stabilize it. The electromagnetic pulse becomes permeable for pair plasma, which forms new electromagnetic pulses ahead of the initial one. A transition layer develops with a thickness of a few proton skin depths, in which protons and positrons are accelerated by strong electromagnetic fields. Protons form dense clumps surrounded by a strong magnetic field. The thickness of the transition layer grows less rapidly than we would expect from the typical speeds of the pair plasma particles and the latter transfer momentum to protons; hence, the transition layer acts as a discontinuity, separating the pair plasma from the ambient plasma. Such a discontinuity is an important building block for astrophysical pair plasma jets.

Funder

Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing

Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif

Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon

Publisher

AIP Publishing

Subject

Condensed Matter Physics

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