Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:48:46.346Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Switch-shock wave structure in a magnetized partly-ionized gas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

N. F. Cramer
N. F. Cramer
Affiliation:
School of Physics, Sydney University, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The effect of the interaction of plasma and neutral gas on the structure of switchtype shock waves propagating in a partly-ionized gas is studied. These shocks, in which the magnetic field is perpendicular to the shock front either upstream or downstream, exhibit a spiralling behaviour of the magnetic field in the shock transition region, if the Hall term is important in the Ohm's law. Observation of this behaviour for shocks propagating into a plasma with a residual neutral content of ~ 15 % has implied an anomalously high resistivity of the plasma. We show that this can be partly explained by considering the collisions of ions with the neutral atoms in a magnetic field. We show that the extra dissipation due to the increase in resistivity goes primarily to the ions and neutrals. Thus even in the absence of viscous dissipation within each species, the heavy particles can be appreciably heated in a shock propagating into a partly-ionized gas in a magnetic field.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , October 1975 , pp. 333 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Banks, P. 1966 Planet. Space Sci. 14, 1105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bighel, L., Collins, A. R. & Cross, R. C. 1974 Phys. Lett. 47 A, 333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bighel, L., Cramer, N. F., Millar, D. D. & Niland, R. A. 1973 Phys. Lett. 44 A, 449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowling, T. G. 1956 Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 116, 114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, A. D. 1974 a J. Plasma Phys. 12, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, A. D. 1974 b J. Plasma Phys. 12, 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, A. D. & Paul, J. W. M. 1973 J. Plasma Phys. 9, 161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, B. P. 1966 Phys. Fluids, 9, 917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, B. P. 1972 J. Plasma Phys. 7, 133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, J. W. M., Daughney, C. C., Holmes, L. S., Rumsky, P. T., Craig, A. D., Murray, E. L., Summers, D. D. R. & Beaulieu, J. 1971 Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Madison, vol. 3, p. 251.Google Scholar
Robson, A. E. & Sheffield, J. 1969 Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Novosibirsk, vol. 1, p. 119.Google Scholar
Spitzer, L. 1965 Physics of Fully-Ionized Gases. Interscience.Google Scholar
Stringer, T. E. 1964 Plasma Phys. 6, 267.Google Scholar
Tidman, D. A. & Krall, N. A. 1971 Shock Waves in Collisionless Plasmas. Interscience.Google Scholar
Watson-Munro, C. N., Bighel, L., Collins, A. R., Cramer, N. F. & Cross, R. C. 1974 Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion Research, Tokyo. (To be published.)Google Scholar
Woods, L. C. 1971 J. Plasma Phys. 6, 615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zel'dovich, Y. B. & Raizer, Y. P. 1966 Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena, vol. 1. Academic.Google Scholar