Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsh21b1927b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SH21B-1927
Physics
Plasma Physics
[2101] Interplanetary Physics / Coronal Mass Ejections, [2139] Interplanetary Physics / Interplanetary Shocks, [2164] Interplanetary Physics / Solar Wind Plasma, [7845] Space Plasma Physics / Particle Acceleration
Scientific paper
Interplanetary shocks propagate in the heliosphere modifying the upstream and downstream plasma. Upstream from the shock the plasma can be perturbed by the existence of waves and particles escaping from the shock. Downstream the solar wind suffers thermalization and plasma instabilities can grow. Knowing the properties of waves in the magnetosheaths downstream of the shocks driven by coronal mass ejections is relevant to understand the acceleration of energetic storm particles in the solar wind. In this work we use STEREO data to study shocks driven by stream interactions and compare their characteristics with those of shocks generated by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). We use magnetic field and plasma data to study shock profiles, and wave characteristics upstream and downstream of the shocks. We find that during years 2007-2010 stream interaction shocks have Mach numbers between 1.1-3.8 and θBn ≈ 20-86°. For the ICME driven shocks the Mach number has values 1.2-4.0 and θBn ≈ 38-85°. We calculate foreshock extensions and find that shocks driven by ICMEs tend to have larger foreshocks (dr ≈ 0.1 AU) than shocks driven by stream interactions (dr ≤0.05 AU). The difference in foreshock extensions is related to the fact that ICME driven shocks are formed closer to the Sun and therefore begin to accelerate particles very early in their existence, while stream interaction shocks form at ~1 AU and have less time to accelerate particles to suprathermal energies.
Aguilar-Rodriguez Ernesto
Blanco-Cano Xochitl
Jian Li
Kajdic Primoz
Luhmann Janet G.
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