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Slow shock characteristics as a function of distance from the X‐line in the magnetotail
Author(s) -
Lee L. C.,
Lin Y.,
Shi Y.,
Tsurutani B. T.
Publication year - 1989
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/gl016i008p00903
Subject(s) - physics , plasmoid , amplitude , mach number , magnetohydrodynamics , line (geometry) , shock (circulatory) , shock wave , magnetic reconnection , plasma , mechanics , computational physics , astrophysics , geophysics , optics , geometry , medicine , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Both particle and MHD simulations are performed to study the characteristics of slow shocks in the magnetotail. The particle simulations indicate that switch‐off shocks exhibit large amplitude rotational wave trains, while magnetotail slow shocks with an intermediate Mach number M An < M c ≃ 0.98 do not display such rotational wave trains. The MHD simulations show that the spontaneous reconnection process in the near‐earth plasma sheet leads to the formation of a pair of slow shocks tailward of the reconnection line (X‐line). The properties of slow shocks are found to vary as a function of the distance from X‐line due to the formation of plasmoid. Slow shocks in most regions of the magnetotail are found to be non‐switch‐off shocks with M An < 0.98. The present results are used to discuss the lack of large amplitude rotational wave trains at slow shocks in the deep magnetotail.