The flow of an infinitely conducting plasma past a two‐dimensional magnetic dipole oriented parallel to the flow has been considered by Hurley, among others. The problem consists of finding a vacuum magnetic field such that along a bounding field line whose location is to be found, the magnetic pressure balances the Newtonian dynamic pressure appropriate to the local slope of the boundary. A related problem has been solved by Cole and Huth; in their case there is no flow, but an isotropic static plasma surrounding the magnetic field region which exerts a constant pressure on the boundary. In the actual flow problem we would expect there to be a stagnant (trapped) region near the front. The stagnant flow would be at nearly constant pressure. Away from this region the Newtonian pressure would again be applicable. This problem, which is a mixture of those cited above, has been solved by an approximate technique due to Cockcroft. The solution is shown to have features of both the cited problems, as appropriate.

1.
J.
Hurley
,
Phys. Fluids
9
,
854
(
1961
).
2.
J. W. Dungey, Pennsylvania State University Scientific Rept. No. 135, (1960).
3.
V. V.
Zhigulev
 and
E. A.
Romishevskii
,
Zh. Eksperim. i Teor. Fiz.
127
,
1001
(
1959
)
[English transl.:
V. V.
Zhigulev
 and
E. A.
Romishevskii
,
Soviet Phys.‐Doklady
4
,
859
(
1960
)].
4.
These remarks also apply, of course, to three‐dimensional work in this field.
5.
J. D.
Cole
 and
J. H.
Huth
,
Phys. Fluids
2
,
624
(
1959
).
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6.
The curve derived from Eq. (7) agrees with the formula of Hurley.1 However, in a private communication, Hurley has stated that his graph (Fig. 6 in his paper) is in error.
7.
J. D.
Cockcroft
,
J. Inst. Elec. Eng.
66
,
385
(
1927
).
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© 1964 The American Institute of Physics.
1964
The American Institute of Physics
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