Electron Temperature Ratio Research Articles

Upper limit of electron fluxes generated by kinetic Alfvén waves in Maxwellian plasma

AbstractWe consider electron acceleration by kinetic Alfvén waves in the equatorial inner magnetosphere and plasma sheet boundary layer. The competition between the accelerating effect of the wave parallel electric field and mirror force acting on particles in an inhomogeneous background magnetic field generates an effective potential well where electrons can be trapped and accelerated. We compare energy variations of trapped and transient resonant electrons and show that these variations almost compensate each other. Thus, energy provided to waves by transient particles is transferred to trapped particles. This effect allows waves accelerate trapped electrons without being significantly damped. Using energy balance equations, we estimate the maximum flux of electrons accelerated via trapping into Landau resonance with kinetic Alfvén waves. For a wide range of system parameters (i.e., ion to electron temperature ratio, magnetic field amplitude, and wave number and wave frequency), acceleration of trapped electrons can generate fluxes with amplitude about 5–25% of the background thermal fluxes. We determine parametric regions for the most efficient acceleration.

Characteristic study of head-on collision of dust-ion acoustic solitons of opposite polarity with kappa distributed electrons

The head on collision between two dust ion acoustic (DIA) solitary waves, propagating in opposite directions, is studied in an unmagnetized plasma constituting adiabatic ions, static dust charged (positively/negatively) grains, and non-inertial kappa distributed electrons. In the linear limit, the dispersion relation of the dust ion acoustic (DIA) solitary wave is obtained using the Fourier analysis. For studying characteristic head-on collision of DIA solitons, the extended Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo method is employed to obtain Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equations with quadratic nonlinearities and investigated the phase shifts in their trajectories after the interaction. It is revealed that only compressive solitary waves can exist for the positive dust charged concentrations while for negative dust charge concentrations both the compressive and rarefactive solitons can propagate in such dusty plasma. It is found that for specific sets of plasma parameters, the coefficient of nonlinearity disappears in the KdV equation for the negative dust charged grains. Therefore, the modified Korteweg–de Vries (mKdV) equations with cubic nonlinearity coefficient, and their corresponding phase shift and trajectories, are also derived for negative dust charged grains plasma at critical composition. The effects of different plasma parameters such as superthermality, concentration of positively/negatively static dust charged grains, and ion to electron temperature ratio on the colliding soliton profiles and their corresponding phase shifts are parametrically examined.

Effects of nonextensivity on the electron-acoustic solitary structures in a magnetized electron−positron−ion plasma

Obliquely propagating electron-acoustic solitary waves (EASWs) in a magnetized electron−positron−ion plasma (containing nonextensive hot electrons and positrons, inertial cold electrons, and immobile positive ions) are precisely investigated by deriving the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation. It is found that the basic features (viz. polarity, amplitude, width, phase speed, etc.) of the EASWs are significantly modified by the effects of the external magnetic field, obliqueness of the system, nonextensivity of hot positrons and electrons, ratio of the hot electron temperature to the hot positron temperature, and ratio of the cold electron number density to the hot positron number density. The findings of our results can be employed in understanding the localized electrostatic structures and the characteristics of EASWs in various astrophysical plasmas.

Transitional properties of supersolitons in a two electron temperature warm multi-ion plasma

The existence domain of an ion acoustic supersoliton and its transition to a regular kind of solitary wave have been explored in detail using Sagdeev pseudopotential technique for a two electron temperature warm multi-ion plasma having two species of ions. It was found that both the cold to hot electron temperature ratio and their respective ambient densities play a deterministic role for the existence of a supersoliton, as well as its transitional processes to a regular solitary wave. Analogous to a double layer solution, which often marks the boundary of the existence domain of a regular solitary wave, a “curve of inflection” determines the boundary of the existence domain of a supersoliton. The characteristics of the “curve of inflection,” in turn, depend on the respective concentrations of the two ion species. It is observed that the supersolitons are actually a subset of a more general kind of solutions which are characterized by a fluctuation in the corresponding charge separation which precedes their maximum amplitude. It is also observed that these novel kinds of solitary structures, including supersolitons, occur only for a very narrow range of parameters near constant amplitude beyond which the wave breaks.

Kinetic study of ion acoustic twisted waves with kappa distributed electrons

The kinetic theory of Landau damping of ion acoustic twisted modes is developed in the presence of orbital angular momentum of the helical (twisted) electric field in plasmas with kappa distributed electrons and Maxwellian ions. The perturbed distribution function and helical electric field are considered to be decomposed by Laguerre-Gaussian mode function defined in cylindrical geometry. The Vlasov-Poisson equation is obtained and solved analytically to obtain the weak damping rates of the ion acoustic twisted waves in a non-thermal plasma. The strong damping effects of ion acoustic twisted waves at low values of temperature ratio of electrons and ions are also obtained by using exact numerical method and illustrated graphically, where the weak damping wave theory fails to explain the phenomenon properly. The obtained results of Landau damping rates of the twisted ion acoustic wave are discussed at different values of azimuthal wave number and non-thermal parameter kappa for electrons.

Nonlinear density excitations in a magnetorotating relativistic plasma with warm ions and non-Maxwellian electrons

Linear and nonlinear electrostatic ion acoustic waves in a weakly relativistic magnetorotating plasma in the presence of non-Maxwellian electrons and warm ions have been examined. The system under consideration has yielded two solutions, namely, the fast and slow acoustic modes which have been observed to depend on the streaming velocity, ion to electron temperature ratio, and the nonthermality parameter of the non-Maxwellian electrons. Using the multiple time scale analysis, we have derived the three dimensional nonlinear Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation and also presented its solution. Both compressive and rarefactive solitary structures have been found in consonance with the satellite observations. It has been observed that although the linear dispersion relation gives both fast and slow ion acoustic waves, the solitary structures form only for the fast acoustic mode. The dependence of the characteristics of the solitary structures on several plasma parameters has also been explored. The present investigation may be beneficial to understanding the rotating plasma environments such as those found in the planetary magnetospheres of Saturn and Jupiter.

Ion-acoustic and Buneman instabilities in collisional plasmas with q-nonextensive distribution

The ion-acoustic and Buneman instabilities are studied in a current carrying plasma by taking into account the collisional effects and q-nonextensive distribution function. Using the kinetic theory and Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook collision model, a generalized dielectric permittivity function in the presence of moving electrons and electron and ion–neutral collision frequency is derived. The longitudinal dispersion relation in the Buneman and ion-acoustic instability limit is obtained. The results of the Buneman instability shows that the collision frequency, the q-parameter and electron drift velocity affect the growth rate of the instability. Finally, the profile of the ion-acoustic growth rate indicates that by increasing the ion to electron temperature ratio the instability growth rate decreases.

Use of Computer Experiments to Study the Current Collected by Cylindrical Langmuir Probes

A particle-in-cell simulation has been developed to study the behaviour of ions in the surroundings of a negatively biased cylindrical Langmuir probe. Here, we report our findings on the transition between radial and orbital behaviour observed by means of the aforementioned code. The influence of the ion to electron temperature ratio on the transition for different dimensionless probe radius is discussed. Two different behaviours have been found for small and large probe radii.

Evolution of electron energy distribution function in capacitively coupled argon plasma driven by very high frequency

Capacitively coupled plasma driven by a very high frequency power has attracted much attention due to its rather independent control of ion flux and energy. In this paper, Langmuir probe diagnostic technique is used to observe the evolution of plasma properties such as electron energy distribution function, electron temperature and density, etc. Our experiment is performed in capacitively coupled argon plasma driven by a 40.68 MHz frequency. Experimental results show that the electron energy probability function changes from bi-Maxwellian type to single-Maxwellian type and then to Druyvesteyn type with the increase of the discharge pressure. At a low gas pressure, the electron collisionless heating in bulk plasma leads to bi-Maxwellian type in electron energy possibility function (EEPF), which has a double temperatures structure in EEPF. As the gas pressure increases, the electrons with low energy are able to collide with the neutral species more frequently, thus they gain energies through collisional heating. Therefore, these electrons can overcome the dc ambipolar potential and the collisional heating becomes a main electron heating mechanism. Increasing the input power enhances the electron population with low energy. From the discharge center to the edge, electron population with low energy decreases clearly due to the dc ambipolar potential, and they are unable to reach an oscillating sheath where collisionless heating occurs. However, electron population with high energy is slightly increased. The result indicates that more uniform plasma can be achieved at a high gas pressure. Additionally, EEPFs are measured for different discharge gaps between electrodes. The change of electrode gap for the plasma leads to a transition of electron heating mode along the axial direction. In order to characterize the electron behavior further, we introduce the ratio of the cold electron density to hot electron density (α) and the ratio of cold electron temperature to hot electron temperature (β). The ratios also show the proportional distributions of the cold and hot electron populations. The electrode gap has a great influences on α while little influence on β. When the discharge gap between electrodes varies from 20 to 40 mm, α changes from 0.2 to 0.5 while β has the same trend. Spatial distributions of electron density and temperature with low and high energy are also discussed.

Radial-to-orbital motion transition in cylindrical Langmuir probes studied with particle-in-cell simulations

A particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of the plasma sheath around a cylindrical Langmuir probe has been developed to evaluate the ion current collected by the probe. The simulation includes the positive ion thermal motion and has been optimized by solely describing the positive ion motion. A transition from the prediction of the radial model to the orbital-motion-limited model is observed. The transition is explained as an effect of the positive ion thermal motion and the radial model is recovered when the positive ion to electron temperature ratio is decreased. The behaviour of this transition strongly depends on the dimensionless probe radius.

Some New Electrostatic Potential Functions Used to Analyze the Ion-Acoustic Waves in a Thomas Fermi Plasma with Degenerate Electrons

The purpose of this paper is to implement a proposed advanced exp(−φ(ξ))-expansion method to find new electrostatic potential functions that describe the nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves in an ideal plasma with degenerate electrons. The KdV equation is obtained for investigating the ion-acoustic waves in such plasmas by using the reductive perturbation method. The exact traveling wave solutions are established for the KdV equation in the form of hyperbolic, trigonometric, exponential, and rational functions with some free parameters. The influence of the electrostatic nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves has been investigated by considering only hyperbolic function solutions of this equation and different values of the ion to Fermi electrons temperature ratio. The results reveal that the proposed expansion method is a standard, effective, and easily applicable mathematical tool with the aid of computer algebra for solving nonlinear evolution equations arising in plasma physics. The obtained new solutions can be helpful in a proper understanding of the features of small but finite amplitude localized electrostatic ion-acoustic solitary waves for astrophysical issues.

The dust-acoustic mode in two-temperature electron plasmas with charging effects

Dust charging in an unmagnetized collisionless dusty plasma with two-temperature electrons was investigated based on the orbital motion limited theory, where the two-temperature electrons and ions are modelled by the Maxwellian distributions. Then by taking into account the effects of two-temperature electron and the associated charging fluctuations, the dispersion peculiarities of dust-acoustic waves are studied based on dust fluid dynamics. The present results show that the effect will introduce a dissipation on the mode, and the dispersion and the dissipation depend on the temperature ratio and number density ratio of hot and cold electrons.

Dissipative shocks in multicomponent magneto rotating Lorentzian plasmas

Nonlinear ion acoustic shocks in homogenous multicomponent electron-positron-ion (e-p-i) dissipative magneto rotating plasmas are studied. Dissipation in the plasma system is included via kinematic viscosity of ions. The electrons and positrons are Lorentzian and following kappa distribution function. Reductive perturbation technique is applied to derive Korteweg de Vries Burgers (KdVB) equation. The effects of variation of positron density, positron spectral index, temperature ratio of kappa distributed electrons to kappa distributed positrons, ion kinematic viscosity and rotational frequency effects are discussed in the context of pulsar magnetosphere.

Oblique shock waves in a two electron temperature superthermally magnetized plasma

A study is presented for the oblique propagation of low-frequency ion acoustic (IA) shock waves in a magnetized plasma consisting of cold ions and two temperature superthermally distributed electrons. A nonlinear Korteweg de-Vries-Burger (KdV-Burger) equation is obtained by using the reductive perturbation method (RPM) which governs the dynamics of the IA shock wave. Using the solution of KdV-Burger equation, the characteristics of the IA shock wave have been studied for various plasma parameters. The combined effects of the cold to hot electron temperature ratio ( $\sigma$ ), the density ratio of hot electrons to ions ( $f$ ), the superthermality of cold and hot electrons ( $\kappa_{c}, \kappa_{h}$ ), the strength of the magnetic field ( $\omega_{ci}$ ), and the obliqueness ( $\theta$ ), significantly influence the profile of the shock wave. The findings in the present study could be important for the electrostatic wave structures in the Saturn’s magnetosphere, where two temperature electrons exist with a kappa distribution.

Ion-Acoustic Shock Waves in Nonextensive Multi-Ion Plasmas

The nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic (IA) shock waves (SHWs) in a nonextensive multi-ion plasma system (consisting of inertial positive light ions as well as negative heavy ions, noninertial nonextensive electrons and positrons) has been studied. The reductive perturbation technique has been employed to derive the Burgers equation. The basic properties (polarity, amplitude, width, etc.) of the IA SHWs are found to be significantly modified by the effects of nonextensivity of electrons and positrons, ion kinematic viscosity, temperature ratio of electrons and positrons, etc. It has been observed that SHWs with positive and negative potential are formed depending on the plasma parameters. The findings of our results obtained from this theoretical investigation may be useful in understanding the characteristics of IA SHWs both in laboratory and space plasmas.

Kinetic Alfven solitary waves in a magnetized plasma with superthermal electrons

A study of the ion Larmor radius effects on the solitary kinetic Alfven waves (SKAWs) in a magnetized plasma with superthermal electrons is presented by employing the kinetic theory. The linear dispersion relation of SKAW is shown to depend on the superthermal parameter κ, ion to electron temperature ratio, and the angle of wave propagation. Using the Sagdeev potential approach, the energy balance equation has been derived to study the dynamics of SKAWs. The effects of various plasma parameters are investigated for the propagation of SKAWs. It is shown that only compressive solitons can exist and in the Maxwellian limit our results are in good agreement with previous studies. Further, the characteristics of small amplitude SKAWs are investigated. Present study could be useful for the understanding of SKAWs in a low β plasma in astrophysical environment, where particle distributions are superthermal in nature.

Nonlinear dust acoustic travelling waves in dusty plasmas due to dust charge fluctuations

Dust acoustic solitary waves, blow-up solitary waves and periodic waves have been investigated in unmagnetized dusty plasmas with Maxwell-distributed electrons and ions, considering dust charge fluctuations using the bifurcation theory of planar dynamical systems. The basic equations are transformed to an ordinary differential equation involving the electrostatic potential. Applying the bifurcation theory of planar dynamical systems, we have established the existence of solitary, blow-up solitary and periodic waves. Four exact solutions of the solitary, blow-up solitary and periodic waves are derived depending on the physical parameters. Regarding the solitary, blow-up solitary and periodic waves, we have presented the combined effects of the density ratio of electrons and ions (${\it\alpha}$), the temperature ratio of electrons and ions $({\it\beta})$ and the speed of the travelling wave ($v$) on the characteristics of dust acoustic solitary, blow-up solitary and periodic waves.

Ion temperature effects on magnetotail Alfvén wave propagation and electron energization

AbstractA new 2‐D self‐consistent hybrid gyrofluid‐kinetic electron model in dipolar coordinates is presented and used to simulate dispersive‐scale Alfvén wave pulse propagation from the equator to the ionosphere along an L = 10 magnetic field line. The model is an extension of the hybrid MHD‐kinetic electron model that incorporates ion Larmor radius corrections via the kinetic fluid model of Cheng and Johnson (1999). It is found that consideration of a realistic ion to electron temperature ratio decreases the propagation time of the wave from the plasma sheet to the ionosphere by several seconds relative to a ρi=0 case (which also implies shorter timing for a substorm onset signal) and leads to significant dispersion of wave energy perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field. Additionally, ion temperature effects reduce the parallel current and electron energization all along the field line for the same magnitude perpendicular electric field perturbation.

On the electron-ion temperature ratio established by collisionless shocks

Astrophysical shocks are often collisionless shocks. An open question about collisionless shocks is whether electrons and ions each establish their own post-shock temperature, or whether they quickly equilibrate in the shock region. Here we provide simple relations for the minimal amount of equilibration to expect. The basic assumption is that the enthalpy-flux of the electrons is conserved separately, but that all particle species should undergo the same density jump across the the shock. This assumption results in an analytic treatment of electron-ion equilibration that agrees with observations of collisionless shocks: at low Mach numbers ($<2$) the electrons and ions are close to equilibration, whereas for Mach numbers above $M \sim 60$ the electron-ion temperature ratio scales with the particle masses $T_e/T_i = m_e/m_i$. In between these two extremes the electron-ion temperature ratio scales as $T_e/T_i \propto 1/M_s^2$. This relation also hold if adiabatic compression of the electrons is taken into account. For magnetised plasmas the compression is governed by the magnetosonic Mach number, whereas the electron-ion temperatures are governed by the sonic Mach number. The derived equations are in agreement with observational data at low Mach numbers, but for supernova remnants the relation requires that the inferred Mach numbers for the observations are over- estimated, perhaps as a result of upstream heating in the cosmic-ray precursor. In addition to predicting a minimal electron/ion temperature ratio, we also heuristically incorporate ion-electron heat exchange at the shock, quantified with a dimensionless parameter ${\xi}$. Comparing the model to existing observations in the solar system and supernova remnants suggests that the data are best described by ${\xi} \sim 5$ percent. (Abridged abstract.)

Electron-ion plasma dynamics in the presence of highly charged dust-clusters

Electron-ion plasma expansion is studied in the presence of positively (negatively) highly charged uniformly distributed dust particles, considered as impurities. For that purpose, a multi-fluid model is used, where the charged impurities characteristics are included in Poisson's equation. We found that ion acceleration is enhanced by the presence of positively charged dust. The latter leads to spiky structures in the ion front which have a higher amplitude as the charge increases. The charged impurities have a significant effect when the combination of their charge and density is greater than a critical value which depends on ion to electron temperature ratio.