On the conservation of the first adiabatic invariant in perpendicular shocks

Abstract

Numerical simulations show that preshock and postshock values of the first adiabatic invariant (magnetic moment) are, on the average, equal for particles transmitted by infinitesimally thin perpendicular magnetosonic fast‐mode shock waves. These results are apparently not explainable by adiabatic theory but are accounted for by the conservation of angular momentum.