Magnetized ion-acoustic shock waves in degenerate quantum plasma

TL;DR

This paper theoretically studies magnetized ion-acoustic shock waves in a degenerate quantum plasma with ultra-relativistic electrons and non-relativistic ions, deriving a Burgers' equation to describe shock behavior relevant to white dwarfs and neutron stars.

Contribution

It introduces a new model for ion-acoustic shock waves in degenerate quantum plasma including magnetic effects and relativistic electron degeneracy, deriving the Burgers' equation for this system.

Findings

Only positive electrostatic shock structures are supported.

Ion charge state and density increase shock amplitude.

Shock steepness decreases with ion kinematic viscosity.

Abstract

A theoretical investigation has been carried out to examine the ion-acoustic shock waves (IASHWs) in a magnetized degenerate quantum plasma system containing inertialess ultra-relativistically degenerate electrons, and inertial non-relativistic positively charged heavy and light ions. The Burgers' equation is derived by employing reductive perturbation method. It can be seen that under consideration of non-relativistic positively charged heavy and light ions, the plasma model supports only positive electrostatic shock structure. It is also observed that the charge state and number density of the non-relativistic heavy and light ions enhance the amplitude of IASHWs, and the steepness of the shock profile is decreased with ion kinematic viscosity ($\eta$). The findings of our present investigation will be helpful in understanding the nonlinear propagation of IASHWs in white dwarfs and neutron stars.