Undulated Shock Surface Formed After a Shock–Discontinuity Interaction

Abstract

AbstractShock ripples and shock–discontinuity interactions (SDIs) have long been proposed to explain the frequent occurrence of high‐speed jets (HSJs) in the magnetosheath; however, there is no direct observational evidence for either of them occurring near a shock. Herein, we report a large‐scale, long‐duration undulated quasi‐perpendicular shock surface that is capable of generating HSJs. Based on the curvatures estimated for the shock undulation and for a nearby hot flow anomaly (HFA), we suggest that the shock ripple mechanism and the SDI mechanism combine to generate HSJs, that is, during an SDI, shock undulations and an upstream HFA form simultaneously, and the solar wind between them is deflected by the undulation into jets. The HSJs, discontinuity, and HFA are then convected downstream. An HSJ consistent with our mechanism in another event is presented.