Theory of Electron Injection at Oblique Shock of Finite Thickness

Abstract

A theory of electron injection into diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) for the generation of cosmic-ray electrons at collisionless shocks is presented. We consider a recently proposed particle acceleration mechanism called stochastic shock drift acceleration (SSDA). We find that SSDA may be understood as a diffusive particle acceleration mechanism at an oblique shock of finite thickness. More specifically, it is described by a solution to the diffusion-convection equation for particles with the characteristic diffusion length comparable to the shock thickness. On the other hand, the same equation yields the standard DSA if the diffusion length is much longer than the thickness. Although SSDA predicts, in general, a spectral index steeper than DSA, it is much more efficient for low-energy electron acceleration and is favorable for injection. The injection threshold energy corresponds to the transition energy between the two different regimes. It is of the order of 0.1-1 MeV in typical interstellar and interplanetary conditions if the dissipation scale of turbulence around the shock is determined by the ion inertial length. The electron injection is more efficient at high M A / cos θ Bn where M A and θ Bn are the Alfvén Mach number and the shock obliquity. The theory suggests that efficient acceleration of electrons to ultra-relativistic energies will be more easily realized at high-Mach-number young supernova remnant shocks, but not at weak or moderate shocks in the heliosphere unless the upstream magnetic field is nearly perpendicular to the shock normal.

The electron foreshock at high-Mach-number non-relativistic oblique shocks

“…Early 1D PIC simulations 15,16 demonstrated that at these shocks the escaping (also called reflected) electrons streaming along the oblique magnetic field are capable of exciting various electro-static and electromagnetic instabilities. This regime is particularly interesting due to very efficient electron acceleration found in oblique shocks, namely stochastic shock-drift acceleration [18][19][20] . However the foreshock structure and the long-term evolution are poorly understood in shocks with θ Bn = 60 • and we use 2D PIC simulation to address these issues.…”