Solar Wind and the Earth’s Bow Shock

Abstract

In this chapter I shall review the basic phenomena associated with the solar wind from both the macroscopic (e.g. fluid) point of view and also from the microscopic (e.g. particle) perspective. The solar wind provides a fascinating laboratory for studying a wide range of plasma physical processes, and has been extensively observed by in situ satellite measurements for some 25 years. In addition to its intimate connection to the sun and to its interaction with the planets, the solar wind provides a unique opportunity to study and attempt to understand many important topics common to other astrophysical plasmas, e.g. particle acceleration and propagation, stellar winds, turbulence, the role of magnetic fields and shocks. The third section of the chapter, in fact, is devoted to the Earth’s bow shock, which has provided us in recent years with the kind of detail necessary to understand and model the way in which a collisionless plasma supports a macroscopic shock, and its attendant zoo of particle phenomena and turbulence.