The electric potential of tripolar spikes

We present an analytical formula for the waveform of the electric potential associated with a tripolar spike in a plasma. This formula is based on the construction and on the subsequent solution of a differential equation for the waveform. We work out this equation as a direct consequence of the morphological and functional properties of the observed waveform, without making any reference to the velocity distributions of the electrons and of the ions which sustain the spike. In the approximation of small potential amplitudes, we solve this equation by quadrature. In particular, in the second order approximation, the solution of this equation is given in terms of elementary functions. This analytical solution is able to reproduce the potential waveforms associated with electron holes, ion holes, monotonic and nonmonotonic double layers and tripolar spikes, in excellent agreement with observations.     

Localized plasmons in quantum plasmas

We consider the nonlinear interactions between finite amplitude electron and ion plasma oscillations in a fermionic quantum plasma. Accounting for the quantum statistical electron pressure and the quantum Bohm potential, we derive a set of coupled nonlinear equations that govern the dynamics of modulated electron plasma oscillations (EPOs) in the presence of the nonlinear ion oscillations (NLIOs). We numerically study stationary solutions of our coupled nonlinear equations. We find that the quantum parameter H (equal to the ratio between the plasmonic and electron Fermi energy densities) introduces new features to the electron density and electric potential humps of localized NLIOs in the absence of EPOs. Furthermore, the nonlinear coupling between the EPOs and NLIOs gives rise to a new class of envelope solitons composed of bell shaped electric field envelope of the EPOs, which are trapped in the electron density hole (and an associated negative oscillatory electric potential) that is produced by the ponderomotive force of the EPOs. The knowledge of the localized plasmonic structures is of immense value for interpreting experimental observations in dense quantum plasmas.     

Electrostatic Instabilities at High Frequency in a Plasma Shock Front

New electrostatic instabilities in the plasma shock front are reported. These instabilities are driven by the electro- static field which is caused by charge separation and the parameter gradients in a plasma shock front. The linear analysis to the high frequency branch of electrostatic instabilities has been carried out and the dispersion relations are obtained numerically. There are unstable disturbing waves in both the parallel and perpendicular directions of shock propagation. The real frequencies of both unstable waves are similar to the electron electrostatic wave, and the unstable growth rate in the parallel direction is much greater than the one in the perpendicular direction. The dependence of growth rates on the electric field and parameter gradients is also presented.     

Parallel velocity shear driven electrostatic waves in a very dense nonuniform magnetoplasma

It is shown that the parallel (magnetic field-aligned) velocity shear can drive the low-frequency (in comparison with the ion gyrofrequency) electrostatic (LF-ES) waves in an ultracold super-dense nonuniform magnetoplasma. By using an electron density response arising from the balance between the electrostatic and quantum Bohm forces, as well as the ion density response deduced from the continuity and momentum equations, a wave equation for the LF-ES waves is derived. In the local approximation, a new dispersion relation is obtained by Fourier transforming the wave equation. The dispersion relation reveals an oscillatory instability of dispersive drift-like modes in super-dense quantum magnetoplasmas.     

Dust-acoustic solitary waves in an adiabatic hot dusty plasma

An adiabatic hot dusty plasma (containing non-inertial adiabatic electron and ion fluids, and negatively charged inertial adiabatic dust fluid) is considered. The basic properties of arbitrary amplitude dust-acoustic (DA) solitary waves, which exist in such an adiabatic hot dusty plasma, are explicitly examined by the pseudo-potential approach. To compare the basic properties (critical Mach number, amplitude and width) of the DA solitary waves observed in a dusty plasma containing adiabatic electron, ion and dust fluids with those observed in a dusty plasma containing isothermal electron and ion fluids and adiabatic dust fluid, it has been found that the adiabatic effect of inertia-less electron and ion fluids has significantly modified the basic properties of the DA solitary waves, and that on the basic properties of the DA solitary waves, the adiabatic effect of electron and ion fluids is much more significant than that of the dust fluid.     

Numerical Simulation of Dust Void Evolution in Complex Plasmas with Ionization Effect

We develop the nonlinear theory of dust voids [Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 （2003） 075001], focusing particularly on effects of the ionization, to investigate numerically the void evolution under cylindrical coordinates [Phys. Plasmas 13 （2006） 064502]. The ion velocity profile is solved by a more accurate ion motion equation with the ion convection and ionization terms. It is shown that the differences between the previous result and the one obtained with ionizations are significant for the distributions of the ion and dust velocities, the dust density, and etc., in the void formation process. Furthermore, the ionization can slow down the void formation process effectively.     

Effect of excavated trapped electron distributions on ion-acoustic solitary structures in an electron-positron-ion plasma

Fully nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic solitary waves in an unmagnetized electron-positron-ion plasma is investigated. A more realistic situation is considered in which electrons interact with the wave potential during its evolution and, follow the vortex-like excavated trapped distribution. The basic properties of large amplitude solitary waves are studied by deriving an energy integral equation involving Sagdeev potential. It is shown that effects of such electron behavior and positron concentration change the maximum values of the Mach number and amplitude for which solitary waves can exist. The small amplitude limit is also investigated by expanding the Sagdeev potential to include third-order nonlinearity of electric potential. In this case, exact analytical solution is obtained which is related to the contribution of the resonant electron to the electron density. It is shown from both highly and weakly nonlinear analysis that the plasma system under consideration supports only compressive solitary waves.     

Speed and shape of solitary waves in relativistic warm plasma

Large-amplitude solitary waves are investigated in a relativistic plasma with finite ion-temperature. The mass of electron is also considered. The Sagdeev’s pseudopotential is determined in terms ofu, the ion speed. It is found that there exists a critical value ofu ₀, the value ofu at which (u′)²=0, beyond which the solitary waves cease to exist. The critical value also depends on the parameters likeν, the soliton velocity;μ, the electronion mass ratio orσ, the temperature ratio of ion to electron. This result reproduces our previous result [Czech. J. Phys., Vol. 54 (2004), No. 4, 489–496] when the ion temperature is neglected.     

The Electron Cloud Produced by Intense Ion Beam in Penning Trap

When an ion beam pass through the Penning trap an electron cloud is produced.The distributions of the electron density,electron temperature,drift angular velocity of electrons,diffusion flow density of electrons and electric potential in the electron cloud are discussed by means of the fluid equations of the motion of electrons.     

Generation of Electric Field and Net Charge in Hall Reconnection

Generation of Hall electric field and net charge associated initial conditions of plasma density and magnetic field. with magnetic reconnection is studied under different With inclusion of the Hall effects, decoupling of the electron and ion motions leads to the formation of a narrow layer with strong electric field and large net charge density along the separatrix. The asymmetry of the plasma density or magnetic field or both across the current sheet will largely increase the magnitude of the electric field and net charge. The results indicate that the asymmetry of the magnetic field is more effective in producing larger electric field and charge density. The electric field and net charge are always much larger in the low density or/and high magnetic field side than those in the high density or/and low magnetic field side. Both the electric field and net charge density are linearly dependent on the ratios of the plasma density or the square of the magnetic field across the current sheet. For the case with both initial asymmetries of the magnetic field and density, rather large Hall electric field and charge density are generated.     

Instability of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Harmonic Waves in Plasmas

The stability of electromagnetic ion cyclotron harmonic waves propagating normal to an external magnetic field is studied for plasmas whose ions possess loss cone type velocity distributions. It is found that, if the ions are stationary, no instability develops except in the extreme case when the ratio of parallel to perpendicular "temperatures" of the ions is of the order mi/me, where mi and me are the ion and electron masses respectively. However, for the case of two counterstreaming ion beams in a neutralizing background of electrons, instability at zero frequency and near the first several ion cyclotron harmonics can occur if the streaming velocity is of the order of the electron thermal speed.     

Ion acceleration by the space charge electric force arising from the radiation pressure in a magnetized electron–positron plasma

It is shown that ions can be accelerated by the space charge electric force arising from the separation of electrons and positrons due to the ponderomotive force of the magnetic field-aligned circularly polarized electromagnetic (CPEM) wave in a magnetized electron–positron–ion plasma. The ion acceleration critically depends on the external magnetic field strength. The result is useful in understanding differential ion acceleration in magnetized electron–positron–ion plasmas, such as those in magnetars and in some laboratory experiments that aim to mimic astrophysical environments.     

Effects of Ion-to-Electron Mass Ratio on Electron Dynamics in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

A 2 1/2-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell （PIC） simulation code is used to investigate electron behaviour in collisionless magnetic reconnectfon. The results show that the ion/electron mass ratio （mi/me） almost has no impact on the reconnection rate, however it can significantly affect electron behaviour in the diffusion region. For the case with larger mass ratio, the width of electron current sheet becomes smaller and the outflow region along the separatrix is smaller, hence the peak of the electron outflow speed is essentially larger. Density cavities and the parallel electric field E// along the separatrix can be found in the case with larger mass ratio, which may have significant influences on the acceleration and heating of the electrons near the X point.     

Drift ion acoustic solitons in an inhomogeneous 2-D quantum magnetoplasma

Linear and nonlinear propagation characteristics of quantum drift ion acoustic waves are investigated in an inhomogeneous two-dimensional plasma employing the quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) model. In this regard, the dispersion relation of the drift ion acoustic waves is derived and limiting cases are discussed. In order to study the drift ion acoustic solitons, nonlinear quantum Kadomstev-Petviashvilli (KP) equation in an inhomogeneous quantum plasma is derived using the drift approximation. The solution of quantum KP equation using the tangent hyperbolic (tanh) method is also presented. The variation of the soliton with the quantum Bohm potential, the ratio of drift to soliton velocity in the co-moving frame, , and the increasing magnetic field are also investigated. It is found that the increasing number density decreases the amplitude of the soliton. It is also shown that the fast drift soliton (i.e., v_*>u) decreases whereas the slow drift soliton (i.e., v_*<u) increases the amplitude of the soliton. Finally, it is shown that the increasing magnetic field increases the amplitude of the quantum drift ion acoustic soliton. The stability of the quantum KP equation is also investigated. The relevance of the present investigation in dense astrophysical environments is also pointed out.     

Presheath in Fully Ionized Collisional Plasma in a Magnetic Field

The quasineutral presheath layer at the boundary of fully ionized, collisional, and magnetized plasma with an ambipolar flow to an adjacent absorbing wall was analyzed using a two fluid magneto‐hydrodynamic model. The plasma is magnetized by a uniform magnetic field B , imposed parallel to the wall. The analysis did not assume that the dependence of the particle density on the electric potential in the presheath is according to the Boltzmann equilibrium, and the dependence of the mean collision time τ on the varying plasma density within the presheath was not neglected. Based on the model equations, algebraic expressions were derived for the dependence of the plasma density, electron and ion velocities, and the electrostatic potential on the position within the presheath. The solutions of the model equations depended on two parameters: Hall parameter (β ), and the ratio (γ ), where γ = ZT_e /(ZT_e + T_i ), and T_e , T_i and Z are the electron and ion temperatures and ionicity, respectively. The characteristic scale of the presheath extension is several times r_i /β , where r_i is the ion radius at the ion sound velocity. The electric potential could have a non monotonic distribution in the presheath. The ions are accelerated to the Bohm velocity (sound velocity) in the presheath mainly near the presheath‐sheath boundary, in a layer of thickness ～r_i /β . The electric field accelerates the ions in the whole presheath if their velocity in the wall direction exceeds their thermal velocity. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Growth-rates of unstable Ion-Sound waves in a constant electric field

A constant electric field changes the linear growth rates of ion sound waves. The corrections are small, if the field energy is lower than the electron thermal energy times the ratio of electron to ion mass. They depend also on the nonlinear variation of the particle distributions.     

Effect of deviations from isothermality of ions on the propagation of localized dust-acoustic waves

The effect of deviations from isothermality of ions on arbitrary amplitude dust-acoustic solitary structures is studied in an unmagnetized dusty plasma which consists of a negative charged dust fluid, free electrons and hot ions obeying a trapped distribution. For the finite deviation from isothermality of ions, the basic properties of large amplitude solitary waves are studied by employing pseudo-potential approach. It is shown that the effect of such ion behavior changes the maximum values of the Mach number and the amplitude for which solitary wave can exist. For the case that the deviation from isothermality due to nonlinear resonant particle effects is small, calculations by reductive perturbation method leads to a generalized Korteweg-de Vries equation with mixed nonlinearity. The latter admits a stationary dust-acoustic solitary solution with similar width and qualitatively different amplitude in comparison to the case that deviations from isothermality are finite. Furthermore, effects of the equilibrium free electron density and such trapped ions on the amplitude of solitary structures imply a non-uniform transition from the Boltzmann ion distribution to the trapped ion one.     

Electrostatic solitons in unmagnetized hot electron-positron-ion plasmas

Linear and nonlinear electrostatic waves in unmagnetized electron-positron-ion (e-p-i) plasmas are studied. The electrons and positrons are assumed to be isothermal and dynamic while ions are considered to be stationary to neutralize the plasma background only. It is found that both upper (fast) and lower (slow) Langmuir waves can propagates in such a type of pair (e-p) plasma in the presence of ions. The small amplitude electrostatic Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) solitons are also obtained using reductive perturbation method. The electrostatic potential hump structures are found to exist when the temperature of the electrons is larger than the positrons, while the electrostatic potential dips are obtained in the reverse temperature conditions for electrons and positrons in e-p-i plasmas. The numerical results are also shown for illustration. The effects of different ion concentration and temperature ratios of electrons and positrons, on the formation of nonlinear electrostatic potential structures in e-p-i plasmas are also discussed.