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Richtmyer‐Meshkov Instability and the Dynamics of the Magnetosphere
Author(s) -
Wu C. C.,
Roberts P. H.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl900093
Subject(s) - richtmyer–meshkov instability , instability , magnetosphere , physics , magnetopause , shock wave , magnetohydrodynamics , mechanics , discontinuity (linguistics) , shock (circulatory) , geophysics , classical mechanics , plasma , medicine , mathematical analysis , mathematics , quantum mechanics
When a shock wave encounters a fluid discontinuity, the interface may become unstable and form bubbles and spikes. We consider this Richtmyer‐Meshkov instability in magnetohydrodynamics through a set of numerical calculations for the magnetopause and the magnetotail configurations. We suggest that the instability may be a mechanism for generating transient events in the magnetosphere.