Nonthermal Properties of a Postshock Plasma

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Abstract
It is sometimes argued that either the electrons or ions get the majority of the thermal energy in a shock transition. The permissible ratio of electron to ion temperature in a postshock ``collisionless'' plasma is examined for a thermalized, preshock plasma. For weak shocks it is shown, from basic entropy considerations, that Te must equal Ti. It is argued that unless some special dissipation mechanism that applies only to strong shocks is postulated, the result Te = Ti may be generalized to the case of strong shocks.

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