Three-dimensional modulational instability of the electrostatic waves in e–p–i magnetoplasmas having superthermal particles

Abstract

The three-dimensional (3D) modulational instability (MI) of the nonlinear ion-acoustic wave propagating in a non-Maxwellian electron-positron-ion magnetoplasma is investigated. The plasma electrons and positrons obey the Kappa distribution function, which has been proved to be appropriate for modeling the nonthermal features of different plasma environments. The derivative expansion method is carried out to derive the three-dimensional nonlinear Schrodinger equation governing the modulation of the ion-acoustic wavepacket. Criteria under which the MI occurs are discussed in detail. It is found that the conditions, which indicate where the 3D MI sets in, are totally different from the one-dimensional MI. The impact of the relevant plasma parameters, particularly, superthermal parameters, on the MI of the ion-acoustic envelope wavepacket is discussed, and a comparison with previous results is presented. It is noticed that the spectrum of MI in the non-Maxwellian (superthermal) plasma is significantly differe...