Geometrical shock dynamics of fast magnetohydrodynamic shocks*

We extend the theory of geometrical shock dynamics (GSD, Whitham 1958), to two-dimensional fast magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) shocks moving in the presence of nonuniform magnetic fields of general orientation and strength. The resulting generalized area-Mach number rule is adapted to MHD shocks moving in two spatial dimensions. A partially-spectral numerical scheme developed from that of Schwendeman (1993) is described. This is applied to the stability of plane MHD fast shocks moving into a quiescent medium containing a uniform magnetic field whose field lines are inclined to the plane-shock normal. In particular, we consider the time taken for an initially planar shock subject to an initial perturbed magnetosonic Mach number distribution, to first form shock-shocks.