Relativistic Shear Flows and Applications to Astrophysical Jets

We present Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations of relativistic shear boundary layers. Strong magnetic fields are generated by the shear flow and efficient nonthermal particle acceleration to high Lorentz factors are observed. We compare results for pure electron-positron, pure electron-ion and hybrid electron-ion-positron shear flows. Applications to relativistic astrophysical jets such as those observed in blazars and gamma-ray bursts will be discussed.