Wave coupling at a collisionless plasma discontinuity

The coupling of magnetoacoustic waves at a plane interface that separates two semiinfinite collisionless fluids is studied. The fluids are characterized by different temperatures along and transverse to the ambient magnetic field. Continuum equations obtained by Chewet. al. (1956) are used and expressions for the reflection and transmission coefficients are derived. Extensive numerical computations are done to study the variation of the reflection coefficient, with the angle of incidence, for various temperature anisotropies of the media. Relevance of these investigations to the magnetosphere-solar wind boundary is discussed.