Steepening of Alfven waves and its effect on the structure of slow shocks

Journal Article · Sun Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/95GL02847· OSTI ID:254542

Karimabadi, H ^[1]

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1. Univ. of California, La Jolla, CA (United States)

The interaction between Alfven/ion cyclotron (A/IC) waves and a slow shock is examined by means of hybrid simulations. It is shown that for a rather general set of parameters, slow shocks can generate A/IC waves which become group standing within the shock transition layer, and steepen into thin structures ({approximately} 4 ion inertial lengths). Each front is shocklike with finite jumps in the plasma parameters across it. In such cases, the transition from upstream to downstream conditions across the slow shock occurs over a number of layers. Following the jumps over the steepened front(s), the final transition to downstream is made over a much broader region more typical of slow shocks ({ge} 60 ion inertial lengths). Other important effects of the steepened front are the local trapping of the plasma, generation of a coherent wavetrain and changes in the polarization of the slow shock. In particular, the first simulations of slow shocks with a right-handed polarization and an upstream wavetrain are shown. Due to the unusually complicated structures of these slow shocks much care must be taken in the search and identification of slow shocks in the observations. 18 refs., 5 figs.

• OSTI ID: 254542
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 22; ISSN GPRLAJ; ISSN 0094-8276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
ALFVEN WAVES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COUPLING
KINETIC EQUATIONS
PLASMA
PLASMA FLUID EQUATIONS
SHOCK WAVES
STANDING WAVES