Structure of fast shocks in the presence of heat conduction

Abstract

There are three types of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) shocks: the fast shock, intermediate shock, and slow shock. The structure of slow shocks and intermediate shocks in the presence of heat conduction has been studied earlier [C. L. Tsai, R. H. Tsai, B. H. Wu, and L. C. Lee, Phys. Plasmas 9, 1185 (2002); C. L. Tsai, B. H. Wu, and L. C. Lee, Phys. Plasmas 12, 82501 (2005)]. Based on one-dimensional MHD numerical simulations with a heat conduction term, the evolution and structure of fast shocks are studied. The fast shock will form a foreshock in the presence of heat conduction. The foreshock is formed due to the heat flow from downstream to upstream and located in the immediate upstream of the main shock. In the steady state, the value of diffusion velocity Vd in the foreshock is found to nearly equal the upstream convection velocity in the fast shock frame. It is found that the density jump across the main shock in high Mach number case can be much larger than 4 in the early simulation time. However the density jump will gradually evolve to a value smaller than 4 at steady state. By using the modified Rankine-Hugoniot relations with heat flux, the density jump across the fast shock is examined for various upstream parameters. The results show that the calculated density jump with heat flux is very close to the simulation value and the density jump can far exceed the maximum value of 4 without heat conduction. The structure of foreshock and main shock is also studied under different plasma parameters, such as the heat conductivity K0, the ratio of upstream plasma pressure to magnetic pressure β1, Alfvén Mach number MA1, and the angle θ1 between shock normal and magnetic field. It is found that as the upstream shock parameters K0, β1, and MA1 increase or θ1 decreases, the width of foreshock Ld increases. The present results can be applied to fast shocks in the solar corona, solar wind, and magnetosphere, in which the heat conduction effects are important.