Characterizing counter-streaming interpenetrating plasmas relevant to astrophysical collisionless shocks

J. S. Ross, S. H. Glenzer, P. Amendt, R. Berger, L. Divol, N. L. Kugland, O. L. Landen, C. Plechaty, B. Remington, D. Ryutov, W. Rozmus, D. H. Froula, G. Fiksel, C. Sorce, Y. Kuramitsu, T. Morita, Y. Sakawa, H. Takabe, R. P. Drake, M. Grosskopf, C. Kuranz, G. Gregori, J. Meinecke, C. D. Murphy, M. Koenig, A. Pelka, A. Ravasio, T. Vinci, E. Liang, R. Presura, A. Spitkovsky, F. Miniati, and H.-S. Park

Collisionless shocks are pervasive in astrophysics. This paper details the production and characterization of high velocity counter-streaming plasma flows relevant for the creation of collisionless shocks.

Phys. Plasmas 19, 056501 (2012)

Magnetic reconnection in high-energy-density laser-produced plasmas

W. Fox, A. Bhattacharjee, and K. Germaschewski

During magnetic reconnection, magnetic fields relax topologically and gain accessibility to states of lower energy. This process is believed to play a central role in phenomena such as sawtooth crashes in fusion plasmas. In this paper, the authors discuss the reconnection regime of the laser-driven experiments and report the qualitative features of simulations.

Phys. Plasmas 19, 056309 (2012)

Theory of ionization-induced trapping in laser-plasma accelerators

M. Chen, E. Esarey, C. B. Schroeder, C. G. R. Geddes, and W. P. Leemans

Laser-plasma accelerators are able to maintain very large acceleration gradients, which allows for compact accelerating structures. This paper theoretically examines ionization injection by a single laser pulse propagating through a gas mixture in a laser-plasma accelerator.

Phys. Plasmas 19, 033101 (2012)

Transport coefficients in strongly coupled plasmas

Scott D. Baalrud

The conventional calculation of fluid transport coefficients has been generalized to include large angle collisions, which are important for correlated plasmas. Using this method, the friction and energy exchange densities in plasmas with flowing Maxwellian distributions are determined and are similar to those in weakly coupled plasmas, but a generalized Coulomb logarithm is required.

Phys. Plasmas 19, 030701 (2012)

The structure of the magnetic reconnection exhaust boundary

Yi-Hsin Liu, J. F. Drake, and M. Swisdak

Particle-in-cell simulations and modeling and companion Riemann simulations are used to investigate the structure of shocks that form at the exhaust boundaries during collisionless reconnection of anti-parallel fields. The pressure anisotropy produced by counterstreaming ions within the exhaust prevents the development of classical Petschek switch-off-slow shocks (SSS); the shock structure that does develop is controlled by the firehose parameter ɛ.

Phys. Plasmas 19, 022110 (2012)