WEAK DISCONTINUITIES IN RELATIVISTIC MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS IN THE PRESENCE OF DISSIPATIVE MECHANISMS

In this work the study of propagation of weak discontinuities in relativistic magnetohydrodynamics in the presence of dissipative mechanisms of finite electrical and heat conductivities, is carried out. It is shown that a weak discontinuity exists only in the fluids in which the pressure is proportional to the total energy density, if the first order partial derivatives of heat flux vector are continuous across the discontinuity surface. If the latter are discontinuous then singular surfaces exist in low temperature case but not in the ultrarelativistic case. In all these cases the role of dissipation is to cause damping of the wave while shocks can occur in the case of initially compressive waves.