Open AccessMagnetic ionization fronts – III. Internal structures
Author(s) -
Williams R.J.R.,
Dyson J.E.
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.1365-8711.2001.04433.x
Subject(s) - physics , ionization , spurious relationship , mechanics , computational physics , front (military) , range (aeronautics) , criticality , astrophysics , nuclear physics , meteorology , quantum mechanics , aerospace engineering , ion , machine learning , computer science , engineering
We present calculations of the internal structures of stationary ionization fronts with oblique upstream magnetic fields. Solutions are found only within the range of upstream parameters allowed by the evolutionary conditions derived by us in a previous paper. As is the case for hydrodynamic ionization fronts, overheating of the gas within the front can mean that not all the solutions allowed by the evolutionary conditions correspond to resolved internal structures. Some, but not all, of these jumps can be realized by structures with included subshocks: we present a full range of internal structures for fronts close to criticality, and discuss how to avoid spurious ‘strong‐R’ type solutions. The solutions we study suggest that significant transverse velocities and modulations of the perpendicular magnetic field may characterize obliquely magnetized ionization fronts. We briefly discuss the observability of the internal structures.