Shocks: Commonalities in Solar-Terrestrial Chains

Abstract

Shocks are found throughout the heliosphere, wherever supersonic (or super-magnetosonic) flows encounter obstacles or other, slowly moving, media. Although some of the physical parameters are in different regimes, all shocks heat and decelerate the media incident upon them. Most shocks must propagate in a collisionless plasma, thereby adding importance to the particle interactions with the electromagnetic fields, and enabling some particles to be accelerated to high energies. This paper explores the commonalities, and differences, in shocks throughout the heliosphere, and concentrates on the role of shock microstructure in effecting the shock transition and in governing the resulting energy partition amongst the constituent species. Shocks play a significant role in the solar-terrestrial chain.