Ambiguities in the Tsallis description of non-thermal plasma species

Tsallis q-non-extensive distributions have recently found favor in describing the presence of energetic particles and their influences on several plasma modes, notably electrostatic solitons. Here attention is drawn to ambiguities and subtleties in the superextensive and subextensive ranges in q, which are not always recognized in the literature, particularly in numerical studies

Collisions of acoustic solitons and their electric fields in plasmas at critical compositions

Acoustic solitons obtained through a reductive perturbation scheme are normally governed by a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. In multispecies plasmas at critical compositions the coefficient of the quadratic nonlinearity vanishes. Extending the analytic treatment then leads to a modified KdV (mKdV) equation, which is characterized by a cubic nonlinearity and is even in the electrostatic potential. The mKdV equation admits solitons having opposite electrostatic polarities, in contrast to KdV solitons which can only be of one polarity at a time. A Hirota formalism has been used to derive the two-soliton solution. That solution covers not only the interaction of same-polarity solitons but also the collision of compressive and rarefactive solitons. For the visualisation of the solutions, the focus is on the details of the interaction region. A novel and detailed discussion is included of typical electric field signatures that are often observed in ionospheric and magnetospheric plasmas. It is argued that these signatures can be attributed to solitons and their interactions. As such, they have received little attention.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figure

Oblique propagation of solitary electrostatic waves in magnetized plasmas with cold ions and nonthermal electrons

Oblique propagation of large amplitude electrostatic waves and solitary structures is investigated in magnetized plasmas, comprising cold fluid ions and Cairns nonthermally distributed electrons, by using a Sagdeev pseudopotential formalism. To perform the analysis, quasineutrality is assumed, so that in normalized variables the electrostatic potential and the occurrence of solitary structures are governed by three parameters: the Mach number M, the typical Cairns parameter beta, and the angle theta between the directions of propagation and the static magnetic field. Below a critical beta, only positive compressive solitons are possible, and their amplitudes increase with increasing beta, M, and theta. Above the critical b, there is coexistence between negative rarefactive and positive compressive solitons, and the range of negative solitons, at increasing M, ends upon encountering a double layer or a singularity. The double layer amplitudes (in absolute value) increase with beta but are independent of theta. Roots of the Sagdeev pseudopotential beyond the double layer are not accessible from the undisturbed conditions, because of an intervening singularity where the pseudopotential becomes infinite. Recent claims of finding supersolitons beyond a double layer appear to be based on a misinterpretation of the nature of the singularity

Complete integrability of a modified vector derivative nonlinear Schroedinger equation

Oblique propagation of magnetohydrodynamic waves in warm plasmas is described by a modified vector derivative nonlinear Schroedinger equation, if charge separation in Poisson's equation and the displacement current in Ampere's law are properly taken into account. This modified equation cannot be reduced to the standard derivative nonlinear Schroedinger equation and hence its possible integrability and related properties need to be established afresh. Indeed, the new equation is shown to be integrable by the existence of a bi--Hamiltonian structure, which yields the recursion operator needed to generate an infinite sequence of conserved densities. Some of these have been found explicitly by symbolic computations based on the symmetry properties of the new equation. Since the new equation includes as a special case the derivative nonlinear Schroedinger equation, the recursion operator for the latter one is now readily available.Comment: LateX (17 pages

Comment on "Head-on collision of electron acoustic solitary waves in a plasma with nonextensive hot electrons"

In a recent paper "Head-on collision of electron acoustic solitary waves in a plasma with nonextensive hot electrons" [Astrophys. Space Sci. 338, 271-278 (2012)] Eslami, Mottaghizadeh and Pakzad deal with the problem of the head-on collisions between two weakly nonlinear electron-acoustic solitary waves. Unfortunately, their treatment is deficient and leads to erroneous conclusions.Comment: Accepted for publication in "Astrophysics and Space Science

The Bohm sheath criterion in strongly coupled complex plasmas

A modification of the classical Bohm sheath criterion is investigated in complex plasmas containing Boltzmann electrons, cold fluid ions and strongly coupled microparticles. Equilibrium is provided by an effective 'temperature' associated with electrostatic interactions between charged grains. Using the small-potential expansion approach of the Sagdeev potential, a significant reduction of the ion Bohm velocity is obtained for complex plasma parameters relevant for experiments. The result is of consequence for all problems involving ion drag on microparticles, including parametric instability, structure formation, wave propagation, etc

Head-on collisions of electrostatic solitons in nonthermal plasmas

In contrast to overtaking interactions, head-on collisions between two electrostatic solitons can only be dealt with by an approximate method, which limits the range of validity but offers valuable insights. Treatments in the plasma physics literature all use assumptions in the stretching of space and time and in the expansion of the dependent variables that are seldom if ever discussed. All models force a separability to lowest order, corresponding to two linear waves with opposite but equally large velocities. A systematic exposition of the underlying hypotheses is illustrated by considering a plasma composed of cold ions and nonthermal electrons. This is general enough to yield critical compositions that lead to modified rather than standard Korteweg-de Vries equations, an aspect not discussed so far. The nonlinear evolution equations for both solitons and their phase shifts due to the collision are established. A Korteweg-de Vries description is the generic conclusion, except when the plasma composition is critical, rendering the nonlinearity in the evolution equations cubic, with concomitant repercussions on the phase shifts. In the latter case, the solitons can have either polarity, so that combinations of negative and positive solitons can occur, contrary to the generic case, where both solitons necessarily have the same polarity

Electrostatic triple root structures : connections to supersolitons, double layers, and acoustic speed solitons in nonthermal plasmas with negative and positive dust

Large-amplitude dust-acoustic solitons and double layers in a dusty plasma model comprised of nonthermal Cairns electrons and ions, and cold, negative and positive dust grains had earlier been investigated, before newer concepts such as supersolitons, solitons at the acoustic speed, and even acoustic speed supersolitons arose. It turned out that under certain conditions, three distinct roots of the same polarity coalesce into a triple root, so that now a systematic investigation is carried out into the existence domains and properties of triple root solitary structures. From the analysis of the Sagdeev pseudopotentials, it transpires that there is a wide range of compositional parameters and soliton speeds where triple root structures can exist, and these are shown to be intimately connected with double layer and supersoliton ranges. Thus, triple roots are much more common than at first expected, even at the acoustic speed or in the presence of Boltzmann rather than Cairns nonthermal hot species. Once the existence domains are properly established, as many examples can be worked out as one chooses, generating typical soliton or double layer and electric field profiles. A great many combinations of compositional parameters and soliton speeds have been numerically tested, and they all reveal a similar pattern, with quantitative but no inherent qualitative changes

On a semiclassical model for ion-acoustic solitons in ultrarelativistic pair plasmas and its classical counterpart

Large ion-acoustic solitary waves are investigated in a multispecies plasma model consisting of warm positive ions in the presence of ultrarelativistic electrons and positrons, in a Sagdeev pseudopotential formalism. A parametric investigation determines existence regions in terms of fractional densities, temperature ratios, and soliton speeds. Various examples of pseudopotential functional forms, as well as those of the resulting soliton and electric field profiles, can then be generated numerically, and some typical illustrations have been included. Rather than adiabatic pressure-density relations for the hot species, the classical nonrelativistic counterpart involves Boltzmann distributions, which differ qualitatively from the literature. Surprisingly, the soliton and electric field profiles show scant differences at the same compositional parameters between the two extremes even though the physical description of the hot species is radically different. A brief comparison has also been included between the fully nonlinear Sagdeev pseudopotential descriptions and their respective associated weak-amplitude limits (treated via a reductive perturbation technique) in which nonlinearities have been truncated to low powers of the electrostatic potential. Again, the soliton profiles are not radically different at comparable amplitudes, leaving the underlying physical reasons for such a similarity an open problem