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A parametric survey of the first critical Mach number for a fast MHD shock

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

J. P. Edmiston  and
C. F. Kennel
J. P. Edmiston
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024
C. F. Kennel
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024
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Abstract

The first critical fast Mach number is rigorously defined to be the one at which the downstream flow speed in the shock frame equals the ordinary downstream sound speed. Above the first critical Mach number, resistivity alone is unable to provide all the dissipation needed for the required Rankine-Hugoniot shock jump. A survey of the dependence of the first critical Mach number upon upstream plasma parameters is needed to guide studies of the structure of collisionless shocks in space. We vary the upstream plasma beta, the upstream shock normal angle, and the ratio of specific heats for the plasma. The first critical Mach number depends sensitively upon upstream plasma parameters, and is between 1 and 2 for typical solar wind parameters, rather than the often quoted value of 2·7, which is valid for perpendicular shocks propagating into a cold plasma. We introduce the suggestion that the flux of superthermal and energetic ions upstream at quasi-parallel shocks might increase suddenly at the first critical Mach number. Our parametric survey indicates that this hypothesis might be most conveniently tested using interplanetary shocks.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , December 1984 , pp. 429 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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