Particle acceleration and magnetic field generation in astrophysical plasmas

Shocks in low density plasmas so called collisionless shocks are ubiquitous throughout the Universe and are thought to be responsible for the generation of nonthermal particles that extend over decades in energy I will describe the progress in modeling collisionless shock structure and particle acceleration using ab initio kinetic simulations focusing on the current understanding of magnetic field amplification mechanisms the conditions necessary for particle injection into the acceleration process and the physics behind the electron to ion ratio in cosmic rays Refreshments are served at 14:40pm