2010, Vol.13, No.3, pp.302-308
Viking Satellite observations have revealed solitary potential
structures in the dayside auroral zone. A theoretical
investigation is carried out for understanding the properties of
obliquely propagating electron-acoustic solitary waves (EASWs) in
an magnetized collisionless plasma consisting of a cold electron
fluid and non-thermal hot electrons obeying a non-thermal
distribution, and stationary ions. The reductive perturbation
method has been employed to derive the Zakharov-Kuznetsov (ZK)
equation for small but finite amplitude electrostatic waves. It is
found that the present plasma model supports rarefactive EASWs
solitons . The effects of the external magnetic field and the
obliqueness are found to significantly change the basic properties
(viz. the amplitude and the width) of the EASWs. The present
investigation can be of relevance to the electrostatic solitary
structures observed in various space plasma environments (viz. the
cusp of the terrestrial magnetosphere, the geomagnetic tail, the
auroral regions, etc.).
Key words:
electron acoustic waves, reductive perturbation,
Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation, solitary solutions
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