Put and . The mass, momentum and energy jump conditions for a perpendicular magnetohydrodynamic shock factor into the unchanged state andFor the compressive physical branch , positive downstream pressure implies when and the upstream sound speed or Alfvén speed is nonzero. Indeed the polynomial impliesIt then gives : the upstream flow exceeds the perpendicular fast magnetosonic wave speed. The exactly cold unmagnetized strong-shock limit reaches the upper compression bound.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 64 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the adiabatic form of ideal magnetohydrodynamics: heat conduction and external heating are absent, so . Infinite electrical conductivity and zero viscosity alone would not remove the thermal source terms on the cover page. If those terms are retained, the energy equation below must acquire on its right-hand side.
Expanding the continuity equation gives its conservative form . Using it to expand the conservative momentum derivative givesFor , the Lorentz force density is the divergence of the magnetic Maxwell stress tensor:Combining these identities with momentum balance provesThe dyadic stress contains both magnetic tension and magnetic pressure; the sign in the flux is fixed by moving the magnetic force to the left.
For the energy equation, first dot momentum balance with and add the adiabatic internal-energy equation. The continuity equation converts their material derivatives into conservative derivatives, while . The result isThe ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation gives the magnetic counterpart. In fact,Thus the outward Poynting vector is , and magnetic work cancels the fluid work. Finally, the continuity equation impliesAdding all three identities gives ideal magnetohydrodynamic energy conservation in the required local form:whereThe magnetic energy coefficient is , as in the original PDF. For a self-consistent, time-dependent gravitational field this local balance should not be confused with a global self-gravitating energy integral: the latter uses gravitational field energy, or the familiar one-half factor in after the field is eliminated.
Work in the shock frame of a thin planar discontinuity, with normal speed . A smooth gravitational potential has no finite jump through a vanishingly thin front; its advected contribution cancels using the common mass flux. Integrating the conservation laws gives constant normal mass, momentum and energy fluxes, together with the normal-field and tangential-electric-field conditions of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic shock conditions.
For a parallel magnetohydrodynamic shock, and . The magnetic solenoidal constraint makes the same on both sides. The normal momentum flux is ; its magnetic term is therefore identical upstream and downstream. The Poynting vector is zero because . Hence the nontrivial jumps are exactly the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions for a perfect gas:with specific enthalpy . Physically, motion along the straight field neither bends it nor compresses its transverse flux. The field consequently provides no changed stress or energy flux in this purely parallel geometry. This conclusion does not apply to a shock that develops a transverse magnetic field.
For a perpendicular magnetohydrodynamic shock, the magnetic field is tangential and the velocity normal. Steady induction makes continuous, while the continuity equation makes continuous. Dividing gives the magnetic flux freezing relationPut , so and . Constant normal momentum flux now reads . Substitution givesThe magnetic correction is negative for compression: part of the incoming ram pressure builds magnetic pressure instead of thermal pressure.
Here the Poynting vector has normal component . Divide the constant energy flux by the nonzero mass flux to obtainWith , this gives the second expression for downstream pressure:In this expression is the only downstream unknown. Equating the two pressure expressions and multiplying by yieldsup to an overall minus sign, where andThe discarded factor is the unchanged state, not a compressive shock. This derives the polynomial for the compression ratio of a perpendicular magnetohydrodynamic shock without omitting its trivial branch.
For the usual physical adiabatic index , is strictly increasing for positive , has , and has one positive root. Sincethat root is greater than one precisely when . The necessity is not limited to : for any , eliminating using givesFor , positive downstream pressure requires when . Moreover,The bracket is positive throughout , even when . The exactly cold unmagnetized limit gives the familiar strong-shock upper compression ratio directly. Thus the physical compressive branch requiresThe PDF's final denotes this same incoming speed . The right side is the squared speed of a perpendicular fast magnetosonic wave: the upstream flow must be super-fast-magnetosonic so that this compressive signal cannot run upstream against the incoming flow. At equality the shock amplitude vanishes into a characteristic disturbance.