Ion acoustic solitary waves in density and temperature gradients

Abstract

The propagation of ion-acoustic K-dV solitary waves in weakly inhomogeneous, collisionless plasmas with gradients both in the density and the temperature of the ions has been considered. The electrons are assumed to be hot and isothermal, and the ions to be warm and adiabatic. The reductive perturbation analysis of the fluid equations is then carried out. The zero order quantities existing in the system due to the presence of the inhomogeneities are taken into account consistently and a set of ‘stretched coordinates’ appropriate for the inhomogeneous system is employed. A more general modified K-dV equation has been derived and its soliton solution is obtained explicitly. It is shown that as the soliton propagates along the temperature gradient, its amplitude and the velocity decrease, and the width increases. Further, it is found that when the two gradients are in opposite directions, the amplitude of the soliton remains constant.