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Corrugation Instabilities Across Shock Fronts in Magnetohydrodynamical Astrophysical Systems

Corrugation Instabilities Across Shock Fronts in Magnetohydrodynamical Astrophysical Systems

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 at 2:00 pm
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Austin Mullins

Magnetosonic shock fronts are unstable to changes in their velocity and strength of magnetic field, anoccurrence that is referred to as corrugation instability. The theoretical model studied considers a systemwhere fluid, plasma, travels across a shock front. Using magnetohydrodynamics code, the corrugationinstability of a shock front can be theoretically modeled. The results show how the corrugation instabilitychanges with the increase in Alfvenic Mach number and magnetosonic Mach number over a series ofangles. This series of angles describe the angle of entry at which the fluid penetrates the shock frontfrom the perspective of the normal of the shock front. This series of angles ranged between zero to sixtydegrees from the normal of the shock. It was found that for smaller angles, the shock front became lessstable quicker as the Alfven Mach number increased whereas for larger angles the shock front grew lessstable slower as the Alfven Mach number increased. It was also found that the shock front became lessstable quicker as the magnetosonic Mach number increased for smaller angles. These results indicatethat at larger angles, the maximum value of the magnetic field for a stable shock magnetic field is largerthan that of fluids entering the shock at smaller angles. This describes the evolution of the corrugationinstability. Corrugation instabilities become of interest when studying stellar bodies such as T-Tauristars.

Kathy Hadley