Electron Physics in Slow-Mode Shocks

Details Electron Physics in Slow-Mode Shocks Electron Physics in Slow-Mode Shocks

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufmsm11a1172y&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #SM11A-1172

Physics

2744 Magnetotail, 2748 Magnetotail Boundary Layers, 2753 Numerical Modeling, 2772 Plasma Waves And Instabilities

Scientific paper

Electron dynamics and dissipation in collisionless slow-mode shocks are examined using one-dimensional hybrid (kinetic ions, massless fluid electrons) and full particle (kinetic ions and electrons) simulations. The dynamics of slow shocks at very oblique shock angles (84 degrees) are explored for the upstream ion and electron beta value of 0.1. For these very oblique angles, results from hybrid simulations using an adiabatic electron fluid differ from results using the full particle code, which indicates that the ion dissipation alone is inadequate to set up the shock, and that additional electron physics is needed. Full particle simulations show that the downstream electron temperature becomes anisotropic at very oblique angles, i.e.,T_e,par > T_e,per, where the subscripts are directions (parallel, perpendicular) with respect to the local magnetic field. The anisotropy results from both the large mirror effects and the electron heating due to the parallel electric field of very obliquely propagating kinetic Alfven waves. These primarily electrostatic waves that provide the heating give rise to steepened, spiky density fluctuations in the shock ramp. As a consequence, finite off-diagonal electron pressure tensor terms (quasi-viscous effects) are generated in the simulation frame. Inclusion of quasi-viscous effects in hybrid simulations with a model for the parallel wave heating allows the very oblique slow shocks observed in the distant magnetotail to be efficiently modeled.

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