DISSIPATION IN A COLLISIONLESS SHOCK WAVE

The dissipation, in a sub-critical collisionless shock wave propagating perpendicular to the magnetic field, is shown to be consistent with the model of current-driven ion-wave turbulence.The observed turbulence in the shock front S(k) can be expressed by Kadomtsev's formula but reduced by a factor of 1/24.The observed effective collision frequency in the shock front v* can be expressed by Sagdeev's formula but reduced by a factor 1/12.We present a model for the stochastic heating of the electrons which explains the observed dissipation in terms of the observed turbulence.Comparison with the Kadomtsev-Sagdeev model shows that if the theoretically predicted level of turbulence is reduced by a factor 1/24 then theory and experiment are in good agreement.