Strong Bow Shocks: Turbulence and An Exact Self-Similar Asymptotic
Abstract
We show that strong bow shocks are turbulent and non-universal near the head, but asymptote to a universal steady, self-similar, and analytically solvable flow in the downstream. The turbulence is essentially 3D, and has been confirmed by a 3D simulation. The asymptotic behavior is confirmed with high resolution 2D and 3D simulations of a cold uniform wind encountering both a solid spherical obstacle and stellar wind. This solution is relevant in the context of: (i) probing the kinematic properties of observed high-velocity compact bodies -- e.g., runaway stars and/or supernova ejecta blobs -- flying through the interstellar medium; and (ii) constraining stellar bow shock luminosities invoked by some quasi-periodic eruption (QPE) models.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2401.18080,
title = {Strong Bow Shocks: Turbulence and An Exact Self-Similar Asymptotic},
author = {Marcus DuPont and Andrei Gruzinov and Andrew MacFadyen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.18080},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
> updated to include focal length of the parabola in terms of the physical parameters. > updated to final publication-version while maintaining AG's style in Section 2