Scale lengths in quasi-parallel shocks

Abstract

A review was carried out of ISEE and Voyager spacecraft magnetometer data to determine if quasi-parallel bow shocks are really broad, disordered regions. The key parameter was the deceleration scale (thickness, Lp) across which random energy would need to increase and a localized electrostatic field (E) would be present. Lp would define the breadth of the shock and be associated with a plasma deceleration. The ISEE 1 satellite collected data on the electron density, bulk speed, magnetic intensity, and electron temperature in November 1977 during five traverses of the bow shock. Similar data were gathered from an interplanetary shock wave in 1981. The evidence supported the concept of a plasma deceleration across a thin layer (Lp) in both types of shocks. The layers were about 50 times (interplanetary) and 20 times (earth) thinner than surrounding magnetic fluctuation regions. It is asserted that the regions of deceleration, although much thinner, are the actual shocks and not the entire regions of magnetic fluctuations.