Slow shocks and their transition to fast shocks in the inner solar wind

Abstract

The jump conditions of MHD shocks may be directly calculated as functions of three upstream conditions: the shock Alfven number based on the normal component of the relative shock speed, the shock angle, and the plasma β value. The shock Alfven number is less than 1 for a slow shock and greater than 1 for a fast shock. A traveling, forward shock can be a slow shock in coronal space, where the Alfven speed is of the order of 1000 km/s. The surface of a forward slow shock has a bow‐shaped geometry with its nose facing toward the sun. The decrease in the Alfven speed at increasing heliocentric distance causes the shock Alfven number of a forward slow shock to become greater than 1, and the shock eventually evolves from a slow shock into a fast shock. During the transition the shock system consists of a slow shock, a fast shock, and a rotational discontinuity. They intersect along a closed transition line. As the system moves outward from the sun, the area enclosed by the transition line expands, the fast shock grows stronger, and the slow shock becomes weaker. Eventually, the slow shock diminishes, and the entire shock system evolves into a forward fast shock.