Small amplitude ion-acoustic solitons with regularized κ-distributed electrons

Abstract

A theoretical investigation of ion-acoustic solitons in an unmagnetized plasma consisting of cold ions and regularized κ-distributed electrons has been carried out. The properties of stationary solitary structures are briefly studied by the reductive perturbation method in the small amplitude limit. It is found that in the small κ region, the ion-acoustic solitary waves propagate more slowly in the case of regularized κ distribution than in the case of standard κ distribution. The regularized κ-distributed electrons affect the width and amplitude of the solitary waves. As the cutoff parameter α increases, the amplitudes of both the compressive and rarefactive solitary waves decrease, and their widths also decrease. In addition, for a given value of κ, positive potential solitons will appear at large α, while negative potential solitons will appear at small α. The results of this paper may be useful for understanding nonlinear electrostatic phenomena in space plasmas.