Electrostatic shocks generate magnetic fields

B-fieldEShock

In a paper recently published in Physical Review Letters, epp team researchers have demonstrated that in the downstream of electrostatic shocks the electron distribution function can be Weibel unstable and large amplitude magnetic fields are generated. These magnetic fields do not affect the shock dynamics but can modify the signatures usually considered for electrostatic shocks such as the radiation spectrum of the downstream particles. The paper can be found here