Numerical simulations on ion acoustic double layers

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981 · J. Geophys. Res.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA086iA05p03357· OSTI ID:6334526

Sato, T; Okuda, H

A comprehensive numerical study of ion acoustic double layers has been performed for both periodic and nonperiodic systems by means of one-dimensional particle simulations. For a nonperiodic system, an external battery and a resistance are used to model the magnetospheric convection potential and the ionospheric Pedersen resistance. It is found that the number of double layers and the associated potential buildup across the system increase with the system length. The potential jump ..delta..phi/sub D/ across a single double layer is approximately e..delta..phi/sub D//T/sub e/roughly-equal1 and the distance between two consecutive double layers is typically 1000 Debye length, where e and T/sub e/ are the electronic charge and temperature. There is little interaction among double layers, and each double layer behaves almost independently of the others. The maximum increase of plasma energy through the enhanced resistance associated with double layer formation is found to be about 15% of the initial plasma energy for the parameters used in the simulations. The resistivity takes its maximum value at the instance when the double layers are just formed and then drops to almost zero afterwards, indicating the presence of a superconducting phase due to the formation of a quasistable Bernstein-Green-Kruskal type equilibrium. The equilibrium is, however, unstable with respect to the emission of ion acoustic solitons, and the double layers eventually decay as the solitons carry the energy away from the double layers propagating through a plasma toward the downstream direction.

• Research Organization: Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544
• OSTI ID: 6334526
• Journal Information: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States) Vol. 86:A5; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ION ACOUSTIC WAVES
ION WAVES
IONOSPHERE
LAYERS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLASMA WAVES
QUASI PARTICLES
SOLITONS