Determination of Normal Vectors for Boundaries of Plasmas Based Upon Rankine-Hugoniot Relations Estimated With a Single Spacecraft

Abstract

A method to determine normal vectors for boundaries of plasmas with a series of data acquired from a single spacecraft is investigated. The determination of the normal vector is possible through a set of Rankine-Hugoniot (R-H) relations that are conservation relations of plasmas across a boundary. It is assumed that the boundary is planar and that the structure of the boundary is not varing in the rest frame of plasmas. The present method utilizes a complete set of R-H relations and provides self-consistent predictions of the plasma densities, bulk velocities, and temperatures as well as magnetic fields. It is expected that the present method provides a more accurate normal vector than the previous methods which employ only subsets of the available R-H relations.