Classical MHD shocks: theory and numerical simulation

Recent results are surveyed in the investigation of the behavior of shocks in ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and corresponding structures in dissipative/resistive plasma flows. In contrast to evolutionary shocks, a solution of the problem of the nonevolutionary shock interaction with small perturbations is either nonunique or does not exist. The peculiarity of non-ideal MHD is in that some nonevolutionary shocks have dissipative structures. Since this structure is always non-plane, it can reveal itself in problems where transverse perturbations do not exist due to symmetries restrictions. We discuss the numerical behavior of nonevolutionary shocks and argue that they necessarily disappear once the problem is solved in a genuinely three-dimensional statement.