Beam simulation (IMAGE)
Caption
Simulation of an initially uniform beam of electrons & positrons interacting with a plasma. As the beam travels through the background plasma, the positrons (red) become focused while the electrons (blue) spread out to form a surrounding cloud. This illustrates the physics behind ‘current filamentation instability’, which is believed to play a key role in the propagation and dynamics of cosmic jets. The simulation was performed with the OSIRIS Particle-in-Cell code and is among the largest ever carried out for such beam-plasma interactions. Image credit: Pablo J. Bilbao & Luís O. Silva (GoLP, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon & University of Oxford).
Credit
Pablo J. Bilbao & Luís O. Silva (GoLP, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon & University of Oxford).
Usage Restrictions
These images are for editorial purposes relating to this press release ONLY and MUST be credited. They MUST NOT be sold on to third parties.
License
Original content