Temperature Anisotropy in a Shocked Plasma: Mirror-Mode Instabilities in the Heliosheath
Abstract
We show that temperature anisotropies induced at a shock can account for interplanetary and planetary bow shock observations. Shocked plasma with enhanced plasma beta is preferentially unstable to the mirror mode instability downstream of a quasi-perpendicular shock and to the firehose instability downstream of a quasi-parallel shock, consistent with magnetic fluctuations observed downstream of a large variety of shocks. Our theoretical analysis of the solar wind termination shock suggests that the magnetic holes observed by Voyager 1 in the heliosheath are produced by the mirror mode instability. The results are also of astrophysical interest, providing an energy source for plasma heating.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0702599,
title = {Temperature Anisotropy in a Shocked Plasma: Mirror-Mode Instabilities in the Heliosheath},
author = {Y. Liu and J. D. Richardson and J. W. Belcher and J. C. Kasper},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0702599},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters