Ion Reflection at Collisionless Perpendicular Shocks: The Earth's Bow Shock as a Test Case

Details Ion Reflection at Collisionless Perpendicular Shocks: The Earth's Bow Shock as a Test Case Ion Reflection at Collisionless Perpendicular Shocks: The Earth's Bow Shock as a Test Case

May 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agusmsh51a..09k&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2005, abstract #SH51A-09

Other

2134 Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, 2139 Interplanetary Shocks, 7811 Discontinuities, 7851 Shock Waves, 7867 Wave/Particle Interactions

Scientific paper

A very prominent feature at the Earth's bow shock is the presence of back-streaming ions. This feature can also be observed at interplanetary traveling shocks and is expected at the solar wind termination shock. Important questions are which physical processes cause particle reflection, acceleration, and escape upstream of the shock and what is the source of these ions. Assuming that these are common processes for all collisionless shocks throughout the heliosphere, and in other circumstellar environments we can use the Earth's bow shock is the prime candidate for a detailed study. We use data from the multi-spacecraft mission CLUSTER to study reflection, thermalization, and acceleration of ions at the (quasi-) perpendicular bow shock. Using a database of shock crossings covering a wide range of parameters, such as the shock normal angle, plasma beta, Mach number, as well as the cross shock potential and magnetic field profile, we investigate the intensity of gyrating and reflected ions relative to the solar wind flux. We correlate the aforementioned parameters with the ion fluxes to determine the main controlling parameters. This correlation study has already provided new insights into the source of these ions and the reflection process and has led to a new model for ion reflection.

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