Affiliation

University of Exeter

Main category

Natural Sciences (Astrophysics and Astrononmy)

Caption

Shocks are a universal feature of warm plasma environments, such as the lower solar atmosphere and molecular clouds, which consist of both ionised and neutral species. Including partial ionisation leads to the existence of a finite width for shocks, where the ionised and neutral species decouple and recouple. As such, drift velocities exist within the shock that lead to frictional heating between the two species, in addition to adiabatic temperature changes across the shock. The local temperature enhancements within the shock alter the recombination and ionisation rates and hence change the composition of the plasma. We study the role of collisional ionisation and recombination in slow-mode partially ionised shocks. In particular, we incorporate the ionisation potential energy loss and ana

DOI

requested

Link this video

https://science-media.org/video/308