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Turbulent adiabatic shock waves and diffusive particle acceleration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2001

I. LERCHE
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum- und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany Permanent address: Department of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
M. POHL
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum- und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
R. SCHLICKEISER
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum- und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany

Extract

We investigate the properties of turbulent adiabatic shock waves resulting from the self-consistent inclusion of finite Alfvén-wave pressure in the shock balance equations. We demonstrate (i) the absence of a switch-on shock; (ii) the existence of two separated domains where the Mach number is greater than unity that have gas compression, and an associated domain where the gas compression ratio is less than unity (i.e. a rarefaction domain); (iii) the difference between the scattering-centre compression ratio and the gas compression ratio for all upstream wave cross-helicity values except for the isolated case of zero helicity; (iv) the presence of anomalous domains where the cosmic-ray particle spectral index can be negative. All of these results are brought about by including the upstream and downstream turbulent wave energies in the shock balance structure. Without the waves, none of the effects persists.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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