Ramp thickness and ion heating in 1D simulations of laminar quasi-perpendicular shocks

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 24; no. 17; pp. 2259 - 2262
• Main Author: Wilkinson, William P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.1997; American Geophysical Union
• Subjects: Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Interaction between magnetosphere and interplanetary space; Physics of the magnetosphere; Theoretical study; Ion heating; Numerical simulation; Magnetospheric shock wave; Collisionless plasma; One dimensional model
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/97GL02095

One‐dimensional hybrid simulations are used to investigate the effect of the shock ramp's width on the heating of the transmitted ions at low Mach number nearly perpendicular shocks. The suitability of the hybrid code for such a study is established by considering the correlation between precursor wavelength and ramp thickness as a function of θBn, the angle between the upstream magnetic field and upstream‐pointing shock normal. The simulated shocks are found to preserve their dispersive character at geometries close to perpendicular, becoming rapidly narrower as θBn approaches 90°. The effect of shock thickness on the transmitted ions is examined by comparing their heating at three shocks with θBn = 83°, 86° and 88°, respectively, which are successively thinner by a factor of 2. The results are discussed in the light of recent theoretical studies on the subject.