Interaction between two shock waves in a collisionless plasma: Description of the behavior of the heliospheric termination shock

A shock in a collisionless plasma should be treated as a place where the superthermal particles are continuously produced. The Rankine-Hugoniot conditions modified so as to describe the loss of the energy flux during the production process are presented. The model of the interaction between the two colliding shocks in the collisionless magnetized plasma is used to describe the behavior of the heliospheric termination shock. Both forward-reverse and reverse-reverse shock pairs are considered. In consequence of these interactions the termination shock is in a constant in and out motion with velocities equal to 100-200 km/s. The dependence of the interaction parameters on the production efficiency of the superthermal population is discussed. 15 refs., 6 figs.