Quantified energy dissipation rates in the terrestrial bow shock: 1. Analysis techniques and methodology. Issue 8 (25th August 2014) - Wilson, L. B.
Abstract We present a detailed outline and discussion of the analysis techniques used to compare the relevance of different energy dissipation mechanisms at collisionless shock waves. We show that the low‐frequency, quasi‐static fields contribute less to ohmic energy dissipation, (−j·E), than their high‐frequency counterparts. In fact, we found that high‐frequency, large‐amplitude (>100 mV/m and/or >1 nT) waves are ubiquitous in the transition region of collisionless shocks. We quantitatively show that their fields, through wave‐particle interactions, cause enough energy dissipation to regulate the global structure of collisionless shocks. The purpose of this paper, part one of two, is to outline and describe in detail the background, analysis techniques, and theoretical motivation for our new results presented in the companion paper. The companion paper presents the results of our quantitative energy dissipation rate estimates and discusses the implications. Together, the two manuscripts present the first study quantifying the contribution that high‐frequency waves provide, through wave‐particle interactions, to the total energy dissipation budget of collisionless shock waves.