Relativistic shock wave

Perpendicular shock waves in rather strong magnetic fields (ωce > approx ωpe) are studied by a 1 - 2/2 dimension, fully relativitic, fully electromagnetic particle simulation with full ion and electron dynamics. In that parameter regime relativistic effects become important in fast magnetosonic shock waves, even if the thermal speeds of ions and electrons in the upstream region are much smaller than the speed of light; a shock wave can trap some ions and promptly accelerate them to relativistic energies. Furthermore, with the mechanism different from that of ions, some electrons also gain relativistic energies through interactions with strong electric fields in the shock region. By showing various simulation results, we discuss the acceleration processes in detail. (author)