Publication Date:
2019-07-12
Description:
Two different methods were applied to determine the cross-shock potential jump in the de Hoffmann-Teller reference frame, using a data set that represented 66 crossings of the terrestrial bow shock and 14 interplanetary shocks observed by various ISEE spacecraft, and one crossing each of the Jovian bow shock and the Uranian bow shock made by the Voyager spacecraft. Results for estimates of the electrostatic potential based on an estimate of the jump in electron enthalpy correlated well with estimates based on Liouville's theorem, although the Liouville-determined values were systematically the higher of the two, suggesting that significant irreversible processes contribute to the shape of the downstream distribution. The potential jump corresponds to approximately 12-15 percent of the incident ion ram kinetic energy, and was found not to be controlled by the Mach number, plasma beta, shock geometry, or electron to ion temperature ratios.
Keywords:
LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION
Type:
Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227); 93; 12923-12
Format:
text
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