  Cosmological shock waves result from supersonic flow motions induced by
hierarchical clustering of nonlinear structures in the universe. These shocks
govern the nature of cosmic plasma through thermalization of gas and
acceleration of nonthermal, cosmic-ray (CR) particles. We study the statistics
and energetics of shocks formed in cosmological simulations of a concordance
$\Lambda$CDM universe, with a special emphasis on the effects of
non-gravitational processes such as radiative cooling, photoionization/heating,
and galactic superwind feedbacks. Adopting an improved model for gas
thermalization and CR acceleration efficiencies based on nonlinear diffusive
shock acceleration calculations, we then estimate the gas thermal energy and
the CR energy dissipated at shocks through the history of the universe. Since
shocks can serve as sites for generation of vorticity, we also examine the
vorticity that should have been generated mostly at curved shocks in
cosmological simulations. We find that the dynamics and energetics of shocks
are governed primarily by the gravity of matter, so other non-gravitational
processes do not affect significantly the global energy dissipation and
vorticity generation at cosmological shocks. Our results reinforce scenarios in
which the intracluster medium and warm-hot intergalactic medium contain
energetically significant populations of nonthermal particles and turbulent
flow motions.
