2007/02/22 by Y. Liu, J. D. Richardson, J. W. Belcher +1
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/516568
published as Astrophys.J.659:L65-L68,2007 · 11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2007/02/22 · arxiv updated 2010/11/11
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.