Distributions and thermalization of protons and alpha particles at collisionless quasi-parallel shocks.

Details Distributions and thermalization of protons and alpha particles at collisionless quasi-parallel shocks. Distributions and thermalization of protons and alpha particles at collisionless quasi-parallel shocks.

Sep 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993angeo..11..774t&link_type=abstract

Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 11, No. 9, p. 774 - 789

Physics

8

Scientific paper

The dissipation processes of protons and a minor ion component, alpha particles, at quasi-parallel supercritical collisionless shocks are investigated by one-dimensional hybrid simulations. For both ion components the dissipation at these shocks is due to two different mechanisms: Heating is either caused by the nonadiabatic transition of the ions through the shock ramp where ions move through the region of the sharp jump in the magnetic field magnitude and direction, or by a mechanism which involves the occurrence of specularly reflected ions and subsequent shock reformation. In the latter case, reflected ions form a counterstreaming beam and lead to re-formation of the shock at the leading edge of the reflected ion beam. The region between the re-formed and the old shock, where the initial solar wind and the reflected beam have not completely merged, exhibits a sharp increase of the total pressure. The authors have also investigated the dependence of the downstream alpha particle to proton temperature ratio as a function of the upstream density, the plasma beta and the Alfvén Mach number of the shock. Quasi-parallel collisionless shock heating of alpha particles is more efficient than heating of protons. The downstream temperature ratio is higher than the upstream solar wind temperature ratio.

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