Studies of mildly relativistic magnetized perpendicular shocks with kinetic simulations

To provide an interpretation of X-ray and gamma-ray emission spectra of jets in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) a detailed knowledge of particle acceleration at dissipation sites is required. In the case of blazars, the dissipation of jet energy may involve mildly relativistic magnetized internal shocks with Lorentz factor of γ ≤ 2. Of special interest for the emission modeling is the level of kinetic energy exchange between protons and pre-heated electrons. While studies of ultrarelativis- tic collisionless shocks demonstrate strong electron-ion coupling, mediated by the electron maser instability in the shock precursor, the processes of shock formation, electromagnetic turbulence production, and particle acceleration in the mildly relativistic regime are poorly known. Here we present preliminary results of fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulation studies of mildly relativistic superluminal shocks in strongly magnetized plasma. The main focus is on ion-to-electron energy transfer processes and the effects of the electron-positron pair content.