Electron-acoustic solitary pulses and double layers in multi-component plasmas

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nonlinear behavior of electron-acoustic waves in multi-component plasmas, deriving conditions for solitary pulses and double layers, with implications for space and laboratory plasma applications.

Contribution

It introduces a modified Sagdeev potential approach to analyze arbitrary amplitude electron-acoustic solitary pulses and double layers in complex plasma systems.

Findings

Existence of arbitrary amplitude EA solitary pulses and double layers.

Analytical expressions in small amplitude limits.

Relevance to space and laboratory plasma phenomena.

Abstract

We consider the nonlinear propagation of finite amplitude electron-acoustic waves (EAWs) in multi-component plasmas composed of two distinct groups of electrons (cold and hot components), and non-isothermal ions. We use the continuity and momentum equations for cold inertial electrons, Boltzmann law for inertialess hot electrons, non-isothermal density distribution for hot ions, and Poisson's equation to derive an energy integral with a modified Sagdeev potential (MSP) for nonlinear EAWs. The MSP is analyzed to demonstrate the existence of arbitrary amplitude EA solitary pulses (EASPs) and EA double layers (EA-DLs). Small amplitude limits have also been considered and analytical results for EASPs and EA-DLs are presented. The implication of our results to space and laboratory plasmas is briely discussed.