Abstract / Description of output
The interaction of turbulence and shock waves is considered
self-consistently so that the back-reaction of the turbulence and its
associated reaction on the turbulence is addressed. Upstream turbulence
interacting with a shock wave is found to mediate the shock by 1)
increasing the mean shock speed, and 2) decreasing the efficiency of
turbulence amplification at the shock as the upstream turbulence energy
density is increased. The implication of these results is that the
energy in upstream turbulent fluctuations, while being amplified at the
shock, is also being converted into mean flow energy downstream. The
variance in both the shock speed and position is computed, leading to
the suggestion that, in an ensemble-averaged sense, the
turbulence-mediated shock will acquire a characteristic thickness given
by the standard deviation of the shock position. Lax's geometric entropy
condition is used to show that as the upstream turbulent energy density
increases, the shock is eventually destabilized, and may emit one or
more shocks to produce a system of multiple shock waves. Finally,
turbulence downstream of the shock is shown to decay in time t according
to t-2/3.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | SOLAR WIND TEN |
Subtitle of host publication | Proceedings of the Tenth International Solar Wind Conference |
Publisher | AIP PRESS |
Pages | 417-420 |
Volume | 679 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2003 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Particle emission solar wind
- Planetary bow shocks
- interplanetary shocks
- Solar wind plasma
- sources of solar wind