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Paper: Cosmological Shock Waves in the Large Scale Structure of the Universe
Volume: 385, Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows: Astronum-2007
Page: 103
Authors: Kang, H.; Ryu, D.
Abstract: Collisionless shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysical environments. They govern the nature of cosmic plasma through thermalization of gas and acceleration of nonthermal, cosmic-ray (CR) particles via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). We study the statistics and energetics of structure formation shocks formed in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of a concordance ΛCDM universe. Adopting an improved model for gas thermalization and CR acceleration efficiencies based on nonlinear DSA calculations, we estimate the gas thermal energy and the CR energy dissipated at shocks through the history of the universe. Our results reinforce scenarios in which the intracluster medium and warm-hot intergalactic medium contain energetically significant populations of nonthermal particles and turbulent flow motions.
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