Generation of shocks by the Biermann battery. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik 96,5, 642-652 (2016)

Abstract

The generation of magnetic field in shock surfaces separating regions of different electron density is a well known phenomenon. We study how this generation will affect the original structure of ionic flow. In a one-dimensional geometry, it turns out that the leading magnetosonic wavefront produced by the seed field may be compressional, ultimately evolving into a shock in a finite time. The time where this shock occurs depends on few parameters: sound velocity, Alfv\'en velocity and the variation of the magnetic field at the original surface at time zero. The alternative is that the magnetosonic wave may stabilize or damp out, which always happens if we start from a null magnetic field.