Abstract Two fundamental mechanisms of electron heating by collisionless shocks are considered in detail. The first one is due to the ion-sound turbulence excited by electron current in the shock front. It results in the heating of the bulk of electrons and in the generation of a rapidly falling suprathermal tail of the electron destribution. The second mechanism is associated with a magnetosonic turbulence excited by a beam of reflected ions ahead of the shock front. In this case electrons are accelerated along the magnetic field lines due to their Cerenkov interaction with excited waves. Thus the suprathermal tail of the electron distribution is generated. The available experimental data concerning these two processes are compared with theoretical predictions.
The heating and acceleration of electrons by shocks
Advances in Space Research ; 4 , 2-3 ; 255-263
1984-01-01
9 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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