Collisionless shock waves

Collisionless shocks cannot occur naturally on the earth, because nearly all matter here consists of electrically neutral atoms and molecules. In space, however, high temperatures and ultraviolet radiation from hot stars decompose atoms into their constituent nuclei and electrons, producing a soup of electrically charged particles known as a plasma. Plasma physicists proposed that the collective electrical and magnetic properties of plasmas could produce interactions that take the place of collisions and permit shocks to form. In 1964 the theoretical work found its first experimental confirmation. Norman F. Ness and his colleagues at the Goddard Space Flight Center, using data collected from the iMP-1 spacecraft, detected clear signs that a collisionless shock exists where the solar wind encounters the earth's magnetic field. More recent research has demonstrated that collisionless shocks appear in a dazzling array of astronomical settings. For example, shocks have been found in the solar wind upstream (sunward) of all the planet and comets that have been visited by spacecraft. Violent flares on the sun generate shocks that propagate to the far reaches of the solar system; tremendous galactic outbursts create disruptions in the intergalactic medium that are trillions of times larger. In addition, many astrophysicists think that shocks from supernova explosions in our galaxy accelerate cosmic rays, a class of extraordinarily energetic elementary particles and atomic nuclei that rain down on the earth from all directions