Flux Transport by a Shock Plasma

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A magnetic field of about 50 G is observed to be transported downstream from a sharply localized dc field up to 34 kG interacting transversely with a shock produced plasma flow of velocity up to 2 cm/μsec. The transported flux is found to be antiparallel to the imposed field and to decay exponentially in time as it moves downstream. The decay of the flux gives an estimate of the gas conductivity. The amount of trapped flux is in agreement with an approximate theory in which the decay of the initial trapped flux, the magnetic deceleration of the flow, and the reduction of the conductivity by the magnetic field are considered. The initial trapped flux is found to be proportional to the reduced conductivity and the flow velocity, as expected. However an increase in the imposed field beyond 17 000 G reduces the trapping effect due to reductions in both the conductivity and the exit flow velocity of the plasma. The e‐folding time for field decay is roughly 3.5 μsec and does not increase with increasing shock speed.

This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit: