Nonlinear evolution of ion-acoustic waves in unmagnetized plasma

Abstract

In a fluid description large amplitude electrostatic ion-acoustic waves have been studied in an unmagnetized plasma using Lagrangian variables. We obtained solutions for ion-acoustic waves with nontrivial space and time dependence. The non-dispersive solutions demonstrate that under well defined initial and boundary conditions the amplitude of the solutions decreases indicating a new class of nonlinear solutions that lead to short lived structures.