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Mass-loading and parallel magnetized shocks

Abstract
Recent observations at comets Giacobini-Zinner and Halley suggest that simple non-reacting gas dynamics or MHD is an inappropriate description for the bow shock. The thickness of the observed (sub)shock implies that mass-loading is an important dynamical process within the shock itself, thereby requiring that the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions possess source terms. This leads to shocks with properties similar to those of combustion shocks. We consider parallel magnetized shocks subjected to mass-loading, describe some properties which distinguish them from classical MHD parallel shocks, and establish the existence of a new kind of MHD compound shock. These results will be of importance both to observations and numerical simulations of the comet-solar wind interaction.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Zank, G. P., Oughton, S., Neubauer, F. M., & Webb, G. M. (1991). Mass-loading and parallel magnetized shocks. Geophysical Research Letter, 18(10), 1809-1812.
Date
1991
Publisher
Degree
Supervisors
Rights
©1991 the American Geophysical Union.