Electrostatic solitary wave and double layer in a plasma with heavy ions and nonthermally distributed electrons

Abstract

The existence condition for bump and dip type, as well as double layer (DL), solutions of electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) in a nonthermal electron plasma with heavy ions is investigated by a pseudopotential method. It is found that the nonthermality of electrons determines the existence of the DL solution and that the amplitude of ESWs is enhanced by the density of heavy ions. When the heavy ion density is beyond a certain critical value, ESWs and DLs cannot exist. It is also found that both the lower and upper critical Mach numbers are reduced by the presence of heavy ions. c 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3481465]