Abstract
The steady-state structure of magnetohydrodynamic shock waves in a slightly ionized gas is discussed. Both scalar and tensor conductivity cases are considered, and the magnetic diffusivity is taken to be much greater than both the viscous and thermal diffusivities. These properties lead naturally to the application of a singular perturbation technique for finding the structure of the magnetic layer, in which imbedded viscous and thermal sublayers may appear in the form of discontinuities. Numerical solutions are obtained for a variety of typical cases. Hall currents are found to give rise to a spiraling magnetic field component, whereas in scalar conductivity shocks the magnetic field remains in a single plane.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: