This conference has addressed the physics of collisionless shock waves in all space and astrophysical plasma environments from both an observational and theoretical perspective. Topics discussed included shock waves in regions ranging from the solar corona, interplanetary space, the heliospheric termination shock, shocks at supernova remnants, and relativistic shocks associated with jets, etc. The conference addressed shock physics, including shock formation, structure, and stability, dissipative processes, observational techniques, modeling and simulation, particle acceleration and turbulence.

"This conference has addressed the physics of collisionless shock waves in all space and astrophysical plasma environments from both an observational and theoretical perspective. Topics discussed included shock waves in regions ranging from the solar corona, interplanetary space, the heliospheric termination shock, shocks at supernova remnants, and relativistic shocks associated with jets, etc. The conference addressed shock physics, including shock formation, structure, and stability, dissipative processes, observational techniques, modeling and simulation, particle acceleration and turbulence. Readership: Research scientists working in space physics and astrophysics."--Volume detail webpage

This book focuses on the non-traditional branches of physics and mechanics of shock waves that have arisen recently in connection with the intensive study of these waves in a wide variety of phenomena - from nuclear matter to clusters of galaxies. The book is devoted to the various physical phenomena and properties of intense shock waves. The author addresses methods of generation, diagnostics, as well as theoretical methods for describing shock waves at extremely high pressures and temperatures in laboratory and quasi-laboratory conditions. The state of materials with high energy density generated by shock wave compression is discussed. In addition, the book aims to systematize, generalize, and describe from a universal viewpoint the extensive theoretical and experimental material on the physics of high energy densities - the physics and mechanics of intense shock waves. The book is based on lectures delivered by the author at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Higher School of Physics of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, as well as overviews presented at many scientific conferences and symposia. It is useful to a wide range of researchers in natural sciences, giving them access to original works and allowing them to navigate the fascinating problems of the modern science of intense shock waves.

The present book provides a contemporary systematic treatment of shock waves in high-temperature collisionless plasmas as are encountered in near Earth space and in Astrophysics. It consists of two parts. Part I develops the complete theory of shocks in dilute hot plasmas under the assumption of absence of collisions among the charged particles when the interaction is mediated solely by the self-consistent electromagnetic fields. Such shocks are naturally magnetised implying that the magnetic field plays an important role in their evolution and dynamics. This part treats subcritical shocks which dissipate flow energy by generating anomalous resistance or viscosity. The main emphasis is, however, on super-critical shocks where the anomalous dissipation is insufficient to retard the upstream flow. These shocks, depending on the direction of the upstream magnetic field, are distinguished as quasi-perpendicular and quasi-parallel shocks which exhibit different behaviours, reflecting particles back upstream and generating high electromagnetic wave intensities. Particle acceleration and turbulence at such shocks become possible and important. Part II treats planetary bow shocks and the famous Heliospheric Termination shock as examples of two applications of the theory developed in part I.

Collisionless shock waves are a very important heating mechanism for plasmas and are commonly found in space and astrophysical environments. Collisionless shocks were studied in the laboratory more than 20 years ago, and more recently in space via in situ satellite measurements. The authors propose a new laboratory shock wave experiment to address unresolved issues related to the differences in the partition of plasma heating between electrons and ions in space and laboratory plasmas, which can have important implications for a number of physical systems.