Integrable parameter regimes and stationary states of nonlinearly coupled electromagnetic and ion-acoustic waves

Abstract

A systematic analysis of the stationary propagation of nonlinearly coupled electromagnetic and ion-acoustic waves in an unmagnetized plasma via the ponderomotive force is carried out. For small but finite amplitudes, the governing equations have a Hamiltonian structure, but with a kinetic energy term that is not positive definite. The Hamiltonian is similar to the well-known Hénon–Heiles Hamiltonian of nonlinear dynamics, and is completely integrable in three regimes of the allowed parameter space. The corresponding second invariants of motion are also explicitly obtained. The integrable parameter regimes correspond to supersonic values of the Mach number, which characterizes the propagation speed of the coupled waves. On the other hand, in the sub- as well as near-sonic regimes, the coupled mode equations admit different types of exact analytical solutions, which represent nonlinear localized eigenstates of the electromagnetic field trapped in the density cavity due to the ponderomotive potential. While the density cavity has always a single-dip structure, for larger amplitudes it can support higher-order modes having a larger number of nodes in the electromagnetic field. In particular, we show the existence of a new type of localized electromagnetic wave whose field intensity has a triple-hump structure. For typical parameter values, the triple-hump solitons propagate with larger Mach numbers that are closer to the sonic limit than the single- as well as the double-hump solitons, but carry a lesser amount of the electromagnetic field energy. A comparison between the different types of solutions is carried out. The possibility of the existence of trapped electromagnetic modes having a larger number of humps is also discussed.