Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2009
We use a one-dimensional quasi-neutral fluid model to study the formation of an electrostatic shock associated with the lower-hybrid mode propagating almost perpendicularly to the magnetic field that exists in the auroral zone of the magnetosphere containing cold downward-streaming electrons, cold upward-streaming ions and beam electrons. We examine the effects of finite electron-beam temperature by describing the beam electrons with fluid equations. We then show how exact time-stationary shock solutions may be found when quasi-neutrality is considered.