Turbulent shock waves in a collision- free plasma

Abstract

The paper deals with the structure of collisionless shocks arising from turbulent wave-particle interactions. The conditions under which wave-particle interaction effects could become significant leading to growing waves and a shock are discussed. Using the Mott-Smith expression for the zero-order distribution functions for the ions within the shock, the dielectric constant as well as the integral representing the wave-particle interaction term in the Lenard-Balescu equation are evaluated for a collisionless plasma. An expression is given for the ion distribution function within the shock. It is shown that the component of the pressure tensor perpendicular to the direction of flow of the plasma leads to a new kind of viscosity term arising from the interaction of the particles with the growing waves and this provides a dissipative mechanism to account for the conversion of the kinetic energy of the incoming plasma into the thermal energy of the hot ionised gas behind the shock. It is shown that the component of the pressure tensor perpendicular to the direction of flow of the plasma leads to a new kind of viscosity term arising from the interaction of the particles with the growing waves and this provides a dissipative mechanism to account for the conversion of the kinetic energy of the incoming plasma into the thermal energy of the hot ionised gas behind the shock.