Coronal mass ejection shock fronts containing the two types of intermediate shocks
Abstract
Shock configurations in two dimensions are examined along with the types of MHD shocks they contain for various shock front speeds using physical conditions characteristic of those in coronal mass ejections (CMEs). MHD shock jump solutions are used, along with known restrictions on the allowable shock solutions, at special points in the flowfield where the shock velocity and the upstream ambient field become aligned. Numerical solutions are used to confirm the analytically determined configurations. It is shown how, with an ambient magnetic configuration more representative of that in a streamer, the main features of the analytic configuration can be obtained. The simulation supports the possible existence of intermediate shocks near the leading edge of the concave-upward region of some CMEs. THe CME speed can be readily found with a fair degree of accuracy, and a reasonable estimate can be made of the ambient sound speed and the coronal density.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Geophysical Research
- Pub Date:
- December 1990
- DOI:
- 10.1029/JA095iA12p20693
- Bibcode:
- 1990JGR....9520693S
- Keywords:
-
- Magnetohydrodynamic Waves;
- Shock Fronts;
- Solar Corona;
- Stellar Mass Ejection;
- Magnetic Field Configurations;
- Rankine-Hugoniot Relation;
- Shock Wave Interaction;
- Solar Magnetic Field;
- Stellar Models