New longitudinal mode and compression of pair ions in plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates a new acoustic mode in asymmetric pair ion plasmas, explores ion sound wave excitation via electron beam Cherenkov instability, and demonstrates how pulse shape influences ion compression and localization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel longitudinal mode in asymmetric pair plasmas and analyzes how pulse shape affects ion compression and wave localization, with implications for astrophysical plasmas.

Findings

Pancake pulses lead to ion compression in the supersonic regime.

Ion density increases in localized wave regions while electrons are expelled.

Pure pair particle regions may exist, mimicking astrophysical plasma environments.

Abstract

Positive and negative ions forming so-called pair plasma differing in sign of their charge but asymmetric in mass and temperature support a new acoustic mode where damping of heavier ion dominates. The condition for the excitation of ion sound wave through electron beam induced Cherenkov instability is also investigated. This beam can generate a perturbation in the pair ion plasmas in the presence of electrons when there is number density, temperature and mass difference in the two species of ions. Basic emphasis is on the focusing of ion sound waves and we show how, in the area of localization of wave energy, the density of pair particles increases while electrons are pushed away from that region. Further, this localization of wave is dependent on the shape of the pulse. Considering the example of pancake and bullet shaped pulses, we find that only the former leads to compression of pair ions in the supersonic regime of the focusing region. Here possible existence of regions where pure pair particles can exist may also be speculated which is not only useful from academic point of view but also to mimic the situation of plasma (electro positron asymmetric and symmetric) observed in astrophysical environment.