Yc. Whang et al., PLASMA AND MAGNETIC-FIELD STRUCTURE OF A SLOW SHOCK - WIND OBSERVATIONS IN INTERPLANETARY SPACE, Geophysical research letters, 25(14), 1998, pp. 2625-2628
This paper reports on the observation of an interplanetary slow shock
on May 23, 1995 using 3-s plasma and magnetic field data from the Wind
spacecraft. Since the time to traverse the shock (similar to 15 s) is
much greater than the 3-s temporal resolution of the data, this obser
vation can reveal the plasma and magnetic field structure through the
interior of the shock. The 3-s data also provide accurate preshock and
postshock conditions immediately outside the shock layer. The flow sp
eeds in the shock frame of reference U-n < a cos Theta on both sides o
f the shock, U-n1 > C-S1, and U-n2 < C-S2. Here a and C-S are, respect
ively, the Alfven speed and the slow speed, Theta is the acute angle b
etween the magnetic field vector and the shock normal, and the subscri
pts 1 and 2 denote the preshock and the postshock conditions. Theta(1)
similar to 47 degrees and Theta(2) similar to 39 degrees. The jump co
nditions B-2/B-1, N-2/N-1, and (T-i + T-e)(2)/(T-i + T-e)(1) of the ob
servational result are in good agreement with the Rankine-Hugoniot sol
ution. The thickness of the shock is of the order of 36 limes of the p
reshock ion inertial length.