Ion Velocity Distributions in a Non-Stationary Perpendicular Shock

Previous particle-in-cell simulations have evidenced that supercritical, quasi-perpendicular shocks are non-stationary. By separating the incident ions into reflected (R) and directly transmitted (DT) parts, we investigate the ion distributions in a non-stationary perpendicular shock. The upstream ion distributions have two parts corresponding to the R and incident ions respectively, while the R ions have higher energy. The downstream ions have a core-ring distribution. The core and ring parts correspond to the DT and R ions, respectively. The ion distributions depend largely on the non-stationary shock structure. The percentage of the reflected ions cyclically varies in time with a period equal to the shock self-reformation cycle, and the number of the R ions increases with the steepness of the shock ramp.