Work

Self-organization of collisionless shocks: from a laminar profile to a rippled time-dependent structure

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: A collisionless shock structure results from the nonlinear interaction between charged particles and electromagnetic fields. Yet, a collisionless shock is globally governed by the mass, momentum and energy conservation requirements. A stable shock structure must ensure that the fluxes of the conserved quantities are constant on average, and, therefore, is determined by this necessity. Here, we study an observed high upstream temperature high Mach number shock and show that the conservation laws cannot be fulfilled unless the shock is spatially inhomogeneous along the shock front and time-dependent.

Source: Journal of Plasma Physics

DOI: 10.1017/s0022377824001429

Authors: Michael Gedalin, Vadim Roytershteyn

Institutions: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Space Science Institute

Language: English

Topic: Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,450

Funder: International Space Science Institute