A stationary bow shock model for plasmas: The spherical blunt obstacle problem

We present an analytic model of a stationary bow shock which describes the interaction between a supermagnetosonic ambient wind and an obstacle with spherical-like frontal shape. We develop expressions for the bow shock’s geometry and the physical properties of the plasma sheath as functions of the upstream conditions. The solution is limited to magnetic fields parallel to the upstream velocity. The model allows to use any value of the upstream alfvenic and sonic Mach numbers and the polytropic index (γγ), pointing out the influence of γγ for the magnetosheath compression and the bow shock shape. When both Mach numbers are small, the upstream magnetic field intensity affects also the bow shock shape. We compare our results with other models finding important consistencies. We also compare our results with in-situ data, we fund a reasonable qualitative agreement; however, it seems that our model underestimates the magnetosheath size.