Existence conditions for collisionless hydromagnetic shock waves along the magnetic field

Abstract

This paper is concerned with existence conditions for steady hydromagnetic shock waves propagating in a collisionless plasma along an applied magnetic field. The electrostatic waves are excluded. The conditions are based on the requirement that solutions of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations deviate from a uniform state ahead of a wave. They are given as the conditions on the upstream flow velocity in the wave frame (i.e. in the form of inequalities among the upstream flow velocity and some critical velocities). The conditions crucially depend on the pressure anisotropy, and demonstrate possibilities of exacting collisionless shock waves for high β plasmas.