Heating and acceleration of electrons through the whistler precursor in 1-D and 2-D oblique shocks

Abstract

Whistler wave precursors in sub- and super-critical quasi-perpendicular collisionless shocks are analyzed with 1-D and 2-D full particle simulations for similar plasma conditions. In addition to the Landau damping present in both kinds of simulations as the main process of dissipation, 2-D results emphasize the existence of the cross-field currents instabilities (self-consistently included) in the lower hybrid frequency domain both at the shock transition and in the whistler structure. The energy transfer from whistler electromagnetic components (electromagnetic energy) into electron dynamic (thermal energy) is more efficient along the parallel direction and leads to a slight electron preheating in front of the shock.