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.

This volume contains the proceedings of an international conference on Shocks in Astrophysics held at UMIST, Manchester, England from January 9-12, 1995. The study of interstellar and circumstellar gas dynamics has a long and distinguished history in Manchester and has been almost entirely concentrated in the school founded by Franz Kahn in the Astronomy Department, University of Manchester. In January 1993, one of us (AR) was appointed to the faculty of the Astrophysics Group in the Department of Mathematics at UMIST and astrophysical gas dynam ics became a major interest of the Group. The subject of this conference was chosen partly for the topicality of the subject matter and partly to help synthesise this expertise with the expertise in interstellar chemistry already present in the Group. The first fruits of this synthesis are contained in this volume. As it happened, this conference celebrated, not so much the beginnings of a long and fruitful collabo ration, but rather gave many of Alex's friends the chance to say a fond farewell as he departed UMIST at the end of January 1995 to take up a chair at UNAM, Mexico City. The core of this volume consists of twelve review articles, marked (R) in the list of contents, incorporating observational and theoretical studies of shock waves in a variety of situations from Herbig-Haro objects to Supernova Remnants to Active Galactic Nuclei. We have also included the contributed (C) and poster (P) papers.

The Handbook of Shock Waves contains a comprehensive, structured coverage of research topics related to shock wave phenomena including shock waves in gases, liquids, solids, and space. Shock waves represent an extremely important physical phenomena which appears to be of special practical importance in three major fields: compressible flow (aerodynamics), materials science, and astrophysics. Shock waves comprise a phenomenon that occurs when pressure builds to force a reaction, i.e. sonic boom that occurs when a jet breaks the speed of sound.This Handbook contains experimental, theoretical, and numerical results which never before appeared under one cover; the first handbook of its kind.The Handbook of Shock Waves is intended for researchers and engineers active in shock wave related fields. Additionally, R&D establishments, applied science & research laboratories and scientific and engineering libraries both in universities and government institutions. As well as, undergraduate and graduate students in fluid mechanics, gas dynamics, and physics. Key Features* Ben-Dor is known as one of the founders of the field of shock waves* Covers a broad spectrum of shock wave research topics* Provides a comprehensive description of various shock wave related subjects* First handbook ever to include under one separate cover: experimental, theoretical, and numerical results

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.

The 4th IGPP Astrophysics Conference proceedings discuss various aspects of collisionless shock physics in solar system plasmas, including: the microstructure of collisionless shocks, wave activities at and near shocks, particle acceleration at collisionless shocks and collisionless shocks in the outer heliosphere. This volume can serve both as a summary of the current understanding of collisionless shock physics and as a starting point for future research, especially for young scientists in this field.