Oct 27 – 31, 2025
Europe/Stockholm timezone

Simulating electron acceleration in shocks

Oct 27, 2025, 4:45 PM
15m
Studion

Studion

Oral CD2 - All about the solar wind CD2 - All about the solar wind

Speaker

Mr Seve Nyberg (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland)

Description

The presence of energetic electrons in the heliosphere is associated with solar eruptions, but details of the acceleration and transport mechanisms are still unknown. We explore how electrons interact with shock waves under the assumptions of shock drift acceleration (SDA), diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), and stochastic shock drift acceleration (SSDA). Consideration of the shock wave parameter space, such as shock speed, shock obliquity, shock thickness, and plasma density upstream of the shock, helps determine electron spectra and their highest energies. With suitable simulation parameters, the model is able to accelerate thermal electrons to relativistic energies and, additionally, to produce an electron beam upstream of the shock wave, a requirement for the type II radio burst seen in radio observations associated with shock waves and particle acceleration.

This presentation delves into the results of the presented model in regards to electron acceleration and transport within shock waves, contributing to our understanding of solar and interplanetary phenomena and their practical applications in space weather forecasting.

Additionally, the model is developed to be an easy-to-use open source tool for understanding observations of high energy electron populations and the ensuing highly localized radio bursts, integration to other heliosphere plasma models through wrappers, and teaching modeling of particle acceleration in a high-performance computing setting.

This study has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101134999 (SOLER). The presentation reflects only the authors' view and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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Primary author

Mr Seve Nyberg (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland)

Co-authors

Dr Alexander Afanasiev (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland) Dr Laura Vuorinen (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom) Ms Lidiya Annie John (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland) Prof. Rami Vainio (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland)

Presentation materials

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