Ratio of specific heats in the solar-wind plasma flow through the Earth's bow shock

Abstract

The ratio of specific heats in the solar-wind plasma flow can be significantly different in the upstream and downstream regions of the earth's bow shock. On the basis of one-fluid theory, the conservation equations of a normal magnetic shock are solved for compressional ratios of fluid parameters. It is found that jump ratios of fluid parameters are sensitively dependent on the ratio of the specific heats only in the downstream region. The appropriate ratio of specific heats of a thermodynamic analog to the reducible problems in the magnetohydrodynamic flow is investigated. This ratio will permit theoretical calculations to include the magnetic field for techniques such as hypersonic analog or inverse method in solving the blunt body problems.