Shock wave

About: Shock wave is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 36184 publications have been published within this topic receiving 635848 citations. The topic is also known as: Shock waves & shockwave.

Synchrotron and Synchrotron Self-Compton Emission and the Blast-Wave Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract: We investigate the dynamics and radiation from a relativistic blast wave that decelerates as it sweeps up ambient matter. The bulk kinetic energy of the blast-wave shell is converted into internal energy by the process of accreting external matter. If it takes the form of nonthermal electrons and magnetic fields, then this internal energy will be emitted as synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton radiation. We perform analytic and numerical calculations for the deceleration and radiative processes and present time-resolved spectra throughout the evolution of the blast wave. We also examine the dependence of the burst spectra and light curves on various parameters describing the magnetic field and nonthermal electron distributions. We find that for bursts such as GRB 910503, GRB 910601, and GRB 910814, the spectral shapes of the prompt gamma-ray emission at the peaks in νFν strongly constrain the magnetic fields in these bursts to be well below (10-2) the equipartition values. These calculations are also considered in the context of the afterglow emission from the recently detected gamma-ray burst counterparts.

Control of edney IV interaction by pulsed laser energy deposition

Abstract: An experimental investigation was conducted to examine the effect of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser energy addition on the shock structures and surface pressure in a Mach 3.45 flow past a sphere. Two configurations were considered: 1) a sphere in a uniform freestream and 2) an Edney IV interaction generated by impingement of an oblique shock on the bow shock of the sphere

Pulsar Wind Nebulae as Cosmic Pevatrons: A Current Sheet’s Tale

Abstract: I outline, from a theoretical and somewhat personal perspective, significant features of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) as Cosmic Accelerators. I pay special attention to the recently discovered gamma ray “flares” in the Crab Nebula’s emission, focusing on the possibility, raised by the observations, that the accelerating electric field exceeds the magnetic field, suggesting that reconnection in the persistent current layer (a “current sheet”) plays a significant role in the behavior of this well studied Pevatron. I address the present status of the termination shock model for the particle accelerator that converts the wind flow energy to the observed non-thermal particle spectra, concluding that it has a number of major difficulties related to the transverse magnetic geometry of the shock wave. I discuss recent work on the inferred pair outflow rates, which are in excess of those predicted by existing theories of pair creation, and use those results to point out that the consequent mass loading of the wind reduces the wind’s bulk flow 4-velocity to the point that dissipation of the magnetic field in a pulsar’s wind upstream of the termination shock is restored to life as a viable model for the solution of the “σ” problem. I discuss some suggestions that current starvation in the current flow supporting the structured (“striped”) upstream magnetic field perhaps induces a transition to superluminal wave propagation. I show that current starvation probably does not occur, because those currents are carried in the current sheet separating the stripes rather than in the stripes themselves.

Solar energetic-particle release times in historic ground-level events

Abstract: Ground-level events (GLEs) are large solar energetic-particle events with sufficiently hard spectra for GeV protons to be detected by neutron monitors at ground level. For each of 30 well-observed historic GLEs from four solar cycles, extending back to 1973, I have plotted onset times versus velocity–1 for particles observed on the IMP-7 and 8, ISEE-3, Wind, and GOES spacecraft and by neutron monitors. A linear fit on such a plot for each GLE determines the initial solar particle release (SPR) time, as the intercept, and the magnetic path length traversed, as the slope, of the fitted line. Magnetic path lengths and SPR times are well determined by the fits and cannot be used as adjustable parameters to make particle and photon emission times coincide. SPR times follow the onsets of shock-induced type II radio bursts and the coronal height of the coronal mass ejection (CME)-driven shock at SPR time can be determined for GLEs spanning an interval of solar longitude of ~140 deg. For a given GLE, all particle species and energies diverge from a single SPR point at a given coronal height and footpoint longitude of the field line to the Earth. These heights tend to increase with longitudinal distance away from the source, a pattern expected for shock acceleration. Acceleration for magnetically well-connected large GLEs begins at ~2 solar radii, in contrast to non-GLEs that have been found to be strongly associated with shocks above ~3 solar radii. The higher densities and magnetic field strengths at lower altitudes may be responsible for the acceleration of higher-energy particles in GLEs, while those GLEs that begin above 3R S may compensate by having higher shock speeds. These results support the joint dependence of maximum particle energy on magnetic field strength, injected particle density, and shock speed, all predicted theoretically.