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Published on: January 26, 2014
Thermodynamic and Kinetic Properties of Shocks in Two-Dimensional Yukawa Systems
1Computational Physics and Methods Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544, USA.
Abstract:
Particle-level simulations of shocked plasmas are carried out to examine kinetic properties not captured by hydrodynamic models. In particular, molecular dynamics simulations of 2D Yukawa plasmas with variable couplings and screening lengths are used to examine shock features unique to plasmas, including the presence of dispersive shock structures for weak shocks. A phase-space analysis reveals several kinetic properties, including anisotropic velocity distributions, non-Maxwellian tails, and the presence of fast particles ahead of the shock, even for moderately low Mach numbers. We also examine the thermodynamics (Rankine-Hugoniot relations) of recent experiments [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 015002 (2013)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.111.015002] and find no anomalies in their equations of state.
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