The formation and evolution of reconnection-driven slow-mode shocks in a partially ionised plasma

TL;DR

This paper uses numerical simulations to study the formation and evolution of slow-mode shocks in partially ionised plasmas, revealing how neutral-ion coupling affects shock structure and energy transfer.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of slow-mode shock formation in partially ionised plasmas, highlighting the impact of collisional coupling and shock front structure.

Findings

Shock front thickness scales with ionisation fraction to the power -1.2

Neutral fluid overpressure leads to shock precursor formation

Frictional heating accounts for about 2% of magnetic energy

Abstract

The role of slow-mode MHD shocks in magnetic reconnection is one of great importance for energy conversion and transport, but in many astrophysical plasmas the plasma is not fully ionised. In this paper, we investigate, using numerical simulations, the role of collisional coupling between a proton-electron charge-neutral fluid and a neutral hydrogen fluid for the 1D Riemann problem initiated in a constant pressure and density background state by a discontinuity in the magnetic field. This system, in the MHD limit, is characterised by two waves: a fast-mode rarefaction wave that drives a flow towards a slow-mode MHD shock. The system evolves through four stage: initiation, weak coupling, intermediate coupling and a quasi steady state. The initial stages are characterised by an over-pressured neutral region that expands with characteristics of a blast wave. In the later stages, the system tends towards a self-similar solution where the main drift velocity is concentrated in the thin region of the shock front. Due to the nature of the system, the neutral fluid is overpressured by the shock when compared to a purely hydrodynamic shock which results in the neutral fluid expanding to form the shock precursor. The thickness of the shockfront once it has formed proportional to the ionisation fraction to the power -1.2, which is a smaller exponent than would be naively expected from simple scaling arguments. One interesting result is that the shock front is a continuous transition of the physical variables for sub-sonic velocity upstream of the shock front (a c-shock) to a sharp jump in the physical variables followed by a relaxation to the downstream values for supersonic upstream velocity (a j-shock). The frictional heating that results from the velocity drift across the shock front can amount to approximately two per cent of the reference magnetic energy.