Dissipation and particle acceleration in astrophysical jets with velocity and magnetic shear: Interaction of Kelvin-Helmholtz and Drift-Kink Instabilities
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866929667479437312 |
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| author | Tsung, Tsun Hin Navin Werner, Gregory R. Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Begelman, Mitchell C. |
| author_facet | Tsung, Tsun Hin Navin Werner, Gregory R. Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Begelman, Mitchell C. |
| contents | We present 2D particle-in-cell simulations of a magnetized, collisionless, relativistic pair plasma subjected to combined velocity and magnetic-field shear, a scenario typical for astrophysical black-hole jet-wind boundaries. We create conditions where only the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) and Drift-Kink (DK) instabilities can develop, while tearing modes are forbidden. We find that DKI can effectively disrupt the cats-eye vortices generated by KHI, creating a turbulent shear layer on the DK timescale. This interplay leads to a significant enhancement of dissipation over cases with only velocity shear or only magnetic shear. Moreover, we observe efficient nonthermal particle acceleration caused by the alignment of the instability-driven electric fields with Speiser-like motion of particles close to the shear interface. This study highlights the sensitivity of dissipation to multiple simultaneous instabilities, thus providing a strong motivation for further studies of their nonlinear interaction at the kinetic level. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_04090 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Dissipation and particle acceleration in astrophysical jets with velocity and magnetic shear: Interaction of Kelvin-Helmholtz and Drift-Kink Instabilities Tsung, Tsun Hin Navin Werner, Gregory R. Uzdensky, Dmitri A. Begelman, Mitchell C. High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Plasma Physics We present 2D particle-in-cell simulations of a magnetized, collisionless, relativistic pair plasma subjected to combined velocity and magnetic-field shear, a scenario typical for astrophysical black-hole jet-wind boundaries. We create conditions where only the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) and Drift-Kink (DK) instabilities can develop, while tearing modes are forbidden. We find that DKI can effectively disrupt the cats-eye vortices generated by KHI, creating a turbulent shear layer on the DK timescale. This interplay leads to a significant enhancement of dissipation over cases with only velocity shear or only magnetic shear. Moreover, we observe efficient nonthermal particle acceleration caused by the alignment of the instability-driven electric fields with Speiser-like motion of particles close to the shear interface. This study highlights the sensitivity of dissipation to multiple simultaneous instabilities, thus providing a strong motivation for further studies of their nonlinear interaction at the kinetic level. |
| title | Dissipation and particle acceleration in astrophysical jets with velocity and magnetic shear: Interaction of Kelvin-Helmholtz and Drift-Kink Instabilities |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Plasma Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.04090 |