# Bow shocks, bow waves, and dust waves. II. Beyond the rip point

**Authors:** William J. Henney, S. J. Arthur

arXiv: 1903.07774 · 2019-05-01

## TL;DR

This paper explores the formation and behavior of dust waves around luminous stars, focusing on the effects of radiation pressure, gas-dust decoupling, and magnetic fields beyond the critical rip point, revealing conditions for different dust wave regimes.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of dust wave formation beyond the rip point, including the influence of magnetic fields and stream velocities on dust-gas decoupling and wave dynamics.

## Key findings

- Dust waves can form outside the hydrodynamic bow shock when radiation pressure dominates.
- A minimum stream velocity of ~60 km/s is required for steady-state dust wave solutions.
- Magnetic field orientation significantly affects dust wave formation and behavior.

## Abstract

Dust waves are a result of gas-grain decoupling in a stream of dusty plasma that flows past a luminous star. The radiation field is sufficiently strong to overcome the collisional coupling between grains and gas at a "rip-point", where the ratio of radiation pressure to gas pressure exceeds a critical value of roughly 1000. When the rip point occurs outside the hydrodynamic bow shock, a separate dust wave may form, decoupled from the gas shell, which can either be drag-confined or inertia-confined, depending on the stream density and relative velocity. In the drag-confined case, there is a minimum stream velocity of roughly 60 km/s that allows a steady-state stagnant drift solution for the dust wave apex. For lower relative velocities, the dust dynamics close to the axis exhibit a limit cycle behavior (rip and snap back) between two different radii. Strong coupling of charged grains to the plasma's magnetic field can modify these effects, but for a quasi-parallel field orientation the results are qualitatively similar to the non-magnetic case. For a quasi-perpendicular field, on the other hand, the formation of a decoupled dust wave is strongly suppressed.

## Full text

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## Figures

17 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1903.07774/full.md

## References

80 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1903.07774/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1903.07774