Hybrid Simulations of Supersonic Shear Flows. I. Particle Acceleration

Abstract Supersonic flows are ubiquitous in warm and cool media; their dissipation leads to heating, generation of nonthermal particles, and amplification of background magnetic fields. We present 2D hybrid (kinetic ions–fluid electrons) simulations of decaying shear flows across the subsonic-to-supersonic transition, finding that the canonical Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in subsonic cases gives way to the formation of shocklets in supersonic shears, where dissipation is faster and nonthermal particles are produced. We discuss the dependence on the flow Mach number of particle acceleration, the viscosity induced by kinetic effects, and the production of magnetic turbulence. We outline the potential impact of these findings for turbulence in the warm interstellar medium, for molecular clouds, and for accretion disks, leaving to a companion paper the discussion of the effects on the shear of self-generated and preexisting energetic particles.