Higher-order nonlinearity of electron-acoustic solitary waves with vortex-like electron distribution and electron beam

Abstract

The nonlinear wave structure of small-amplitude electron-acoustic solitary waves (EASWs) is investigated in a four-component plasma consisting of cold electron fluid, hot electrons obeying vortex-like distribution traversed by a warm electron beam and stationary ions. The streaming velocity of the beam, uo, plays the dominant role in determining the roots of the linear dispersion relation associated with the system. Using the reductive perturbation theory, the basic set of equations is reduced to a modified Korteweg–de Vries (mKdV) equation. With the inclusion of higher-order nonlinearity, a linear inhomogeneous mKdV type equation with fifth-order dispersion term is derived and the higher-order solution is obtained using a renormalization method. However, both mKdV and mKdV-type solutions present a positive potential, which corresponds to a hole (hump) in the cold (hot) electron number density. The mKdV-type solution has a smaller energy amplitude and a wider width than that of mKdV solution. The dependence of the energy amplitude, the width, and the velocity on the system parameters is investigated. The findings of this investigation are used to interpret the electrostatic solitary waves observed by the Geotail spacecraft in the plasma sheet boundary layer of the Earth’s magnetosphere.