Relativistic modulational instability of electron-acoustic waves in an electron-pair ion plasma
- Department of Mathematics, Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan-731 235 (India)
- Institut fuer Theoretische Physik IV and Centre for Plasma Science and Astrophysics, Fakultaet fuer Physik and Astronomie, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany and School of Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4000 Durban (South Africa)
The modulational instability of finite amplitude electron-acoustic waves (EAWs) along the external magnetic field is studied in an electron-pair ion plasma. Accounting for the relativistic electron mass variation nonlinearity and the Boltzmann distribution of both positive and negative ions, new regimes for the relativistic modulational instability (MI) for the low frequency (below the electron gyrofrequency) short-wavelength (in comparison with the ion gyroradius) modes are obtained numerically. It is found that the presence of a significant fraction of negative ions suppresses the MI growth/decay rate for the modulated EAW packets. The results could be of important for understanding the origin of amplitude modulated EAW packets in space (e.g., Earth's magnetotail) as well as in laboratory plasmas.
- OSTI ID:
- 21259701
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3050062; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Modulational instability and envelope excitation of ion-acoustic waves in quantum electron-positron-ion plasmas
Modulational instability of ion-acoustic wave envelopes in magnetized quantum electron-positron-ion plasmas