Soliton propagation in an inhomogeneous plasma at critical density of negative ions: Effects of gyratory and thermal motions of ions

Abstract

The effects of gyratory and thermal motions of ions on soliton propagation in an inhomogeneous plasma that contains positive ions, negative ions, and electrons are studied at a critical density of negative ions. Since at this critical negative ion density the nonlinear term of the relevant Korteweg–deVries (KdV) equation vanishes, a higher order of nonlinearity is considered by retaining higher-order perturbation terms in the expansion of dependent quantities together with the appropriate set of stretched coordinates. Under this situation, time-dependent perturbation leads to the evolution of modified KdV solitons, which are governed by a modified form of the KdV equation that has an additional term due to the density gradient present in the plasma. On the basis of the solution of this equation and obliquely applied magnetic field, the effects of gyratory and thermal motions of ions are analyzed on the soliton propagation for three cases, nn0<ne0, nn0=ne0, and nn0>ne0, together with nn0 (ne0) as the density of negative ions (electrons). The role of the negative ions in the evolution of the modes and the solitons is also discussed. Under the limiting cases, our calculations reduce to the ones obtained by other investigators in the past. This substantiates the generality of the present analysis.