Open AccessStability analyses of two‐temperature radiative shocks: formulation, eigenfunctions, luminosity response and boundary conditions
Author(s) -
Saxton Curtis J.,
Wu Kinwah
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04343.x
Subject(s) - physics , radiative transfer , perturbation (astronomy) , eigenfunction , mechanics , amplitude , shock wave , shock (circulatory) , transverse plane , instability , boundary value problem , classical mechanics , astrophysics , eigenvalues and eigenvectors , optics , medicine , structural engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering
We present a general formulation for stability analyses of radiative shocks with multiple cooling processes, longitudinal and transverse perturbations, and unequal electron and ion temperatures. Using the accretion shocks of magnetic cataclysmic variables as an illustrative application, we investigate the shock instabilities by examining the eigenfunctions of the perturbed hydrodynamic variables. We also investigate the effects of varying the condition at the lower boundary of the post‐shock flow from a zero‐velocity fixed wall to several alternative types of boundaries involving the perturbed hydrodynamic variables, and the variations of the emission from the post‐shock flow under different modes of oscillations. We found that the stability properties for flow with a stationary‐wall lower boundary are not significantly affected by perturbing the lower boundary condition, and they are determined mainly by the energy‐transport processes. Moreover, there is no obvious correlation between the amplitude or phase of the luminosity response and the stability properties of the system. Stability of the system can, however, be modified in the presence of transverse perturbation. The luminosity responses are also altered by transverse perturbation.