Nonextensive dust acoustic waves in a charge varying dusty plasma

Our recent analysis on nonlinear nonextensive dust-acoustic waves (DA) [Amour and Tribeche in Phys. Plasmas 17:063702, 2010] is extended to include self-consistent nonadiabatic grain charge fluctuation. The appropriate nonextensive electron charging current is rederived based on the orbit-limited motion theory. Our results reveal that the amplitude, strength and nature of the nonlinear DA waves (solitons and shocks) are extremely sensitive to the degree of ion nonextensivity. Stronger is the electron correlation, more important is the charge variation induced nonlinear wave damping. The anomalous dissipation effects may prevail over that dispersion as the electrons evolve far away from their Maxwellian equilibrium. Our investigation may be of wide relevance to astronomers and space scientists working on interstellar dusty plasmas where nonthermal distributions are turning out to be a very common and characteristic feature.     

Current-driven solitons and shocks in plasmas having non-Maxwellian electrons

The current-driven electrostatic solitons and shocks are investigated in flowing plasmas having stationary dust and non-Maxwellian electrons. The propagation of solar wind parallel to the external magnetic field in the boundary regions of dusty magnetospheres of planets can give rise to drift type unstable electrostatic waves and nonlinear structures even if density is homogeneous. These waves can be produced in laboratory plasma experiments as well. Here the theoretical model is applied to Saturn’s magnetosphere.     

Dust acoustic shock waves in suprathermal dusty plasma in the presence of ion streaming with dust charge fluctuations

Dust acoustic (DA) shock waves are investigated in a dusty plasma having a high-energy-tail electron distribution. The effects of ion streaming, charge variation and electron deviation from the Maxwellian distribution on the DA shock wave are then considered. It is shown that as the suprathermal character of the plasma is increased, the potential amplitude enhances. It is also found that the ion temperature may be destructive for the formation of DA shock waves. Their strength decreases with increasing ion streaming speed. Our results may be useful in understanding the basic nonlinear features of the DA wave propagation that may occur in space dusty plasmas, especially those including a relative motion between species (comet tails, solar wind streams, etc.).     

Waves and Instabilities in Magnetized Dusty Plasmas

The status of waves and instabilities in magnetized dusty plasmas is summarized. The effects of an external magnetic field on low-frequency electrostatic and electromagnetic waves in dusty plasmas are discussed. The kinetic and hydrodynamic instabilities are shown to excite magnetized dusty plasma waves. The presence of the latter can give rise to an oscillatory wake-potential which can be responsible for the charged dust grain attraction. The relevance of our investigation to laboratory and space plasmas has been pointed out. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Formation of obliquely propagating dust-ion-acoustic shock waves due to dust charge fluctuation in magnetized nonthermal dusty plasma

A theoretical investigation is made on the formation as well as basic properties of dust-ion-acoustic (DIA) shock waves in a magnetized nonthermal dusty plasma consisting of immobile charge fluctuating dust, inertial ion fluid and nonthermal electrons. The reductive perturbation method is employed to derive the Korteweg-de Vries-Burgers equation governing the DIA shock waves. The combined effects of external static magnetic field, obliqueness, nonthermal electron distribution and dust charge fluctuation on the DIA shock waves are also investigated. It is shown that the dust charge fluctuation is a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of the DIA shock waves. It is also observed that the combined effects of obliqueness, nonthermal electron distribution and dust charge fluctuation significantly modify the basic properties of the DIA shock waves. The implications of our results in space and laboratory dusty plasma situations are briefly discussed.     

Dust ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves in a dusty plasma with non-thermal electrons

A theoretical investigation of the one dimensional dynamics of nonlinear electrostatic dust ion-acoustic (DIA) waves in an unmagnetized dusty plasma consisting of ion fluid, non-thermal electrons and fluctuating immobile dust particles has been made by the reductive perturbation technique. The basic features of DIA solitary and shock waves are studied by deriving the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) and KdV Burger equations, respectively. It is shown that the special patterns of nonlinear electrostatic waves are significantly modified by the presence of the non-thermal electron component. In particular, the rarefactive solitary and shock structures are found with smaller amplitude in comparison to the isothermal case. The transition from DIA solitary to shock waves is also studied which is related to the contributions of the dispersive and dissipative terms. It is found that the dust charge fluctuation is a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of the dust ion-acoustic shock waves. Furthermore, the dissipative effect becomes important and may prevail over that of dispersion as the population of non-thermal electrons present decreases. The present investigation may be of relevance to electrostatic solitary structures observed in many space dusty plasma, such as Saturn’s E-ring.     

Dust acoustic solitary and shock waves in coupled dusty plasmas with variable dust charge and vortex-like ion distribution

The modified Kodomtsev-Petviashvili-Burger (mKP-Burger) and Kodomtsev-Petviashvili-Burger equations are derived in strongly coupled dusty plasmas containing iso-nonthermal ions; Boltzmann distributed electrons and variable dust charge. We use reductive perturbation method and discuss on solitary waves and shock waves solutions of these equations.     

Shock waves in a dusty plasma having q-nonextensive electron velocity distribution

The dust-acoustic shock waves have been theoretically investigated using reductive perturbation technique. An unmagnetized four-component dusty plasma system consisting of nonextensive q-distributed electrons, Boltzmann distributed ions, and negatively as well as positively charged dust particles has been considered. The solution of Burgers equation in planar geometry is numerically analyzed. It has been observed that the nonextensive q-distribution of electrons has a significant role in the formation of shock waves. The relevance of our results to astrophysics as well as laboratory plasmas are briefly discussed.     

Time-dependent simulations of steady C-type shocks

Using a time-dependent multifluid, magnetohydrodynamic code, we calculated the structure of steady perpendicular and oblique C-type shocks in dusty plasmas. We included relevant processes to describe mass transfer between the different fluids, radiative cooling by emission lines and grain charging, and studied the effect of single- and multiple-sized grains on the shock structure. Our models are the first of oblique fast-mode molecular shocks in which such a rigorous treatment of the dust grain dynamics has been combined with a self-consistent calculation of the thermal and ionization structures including appropriate microphysics. At low densities, the grains do not play any significant rôle in the shock dynamics. At high densities, the ionization fraction is sufficiently low that dust grains are important charge and current carriers and, thus, determine the shock structure. We find that the magnetic field in the shock front has a significant rotation out of the initial upstream plane. This is most pronounced for single-sized grains and small angles of the shock normal with the magnetic field. Our results are similar to previous studies of steady C-type shocks showing that our method is efficient, rigorous and robust. Unlike the method employed in the previous most detailed treatment of dust in steady oblique fast-mode shocks, ours allow a reliable calculation even when chemical or other conditions deviate from local statistical equilibrium. We are also able to model transient phenomena.     

Electrostatic compressive and rarefactive shocks and solitons in relativistic plasmas occurring in polar regions of pulsar

The electrostatic shocks and solitons are studied in weakly relativistic and collisional electron-positron-ion plasmas occurring in polar regions of pulsar. The plasma system is composed of relativistically streaming electrons, positrons while ions are taken to be stationary. Dissipative effects in the system are due to collision phenomena among the constituents of relativistic plasma. Nonlinear dynamics of the dissipation and dispersion dominated relativistic plasma systems are governed by Korteweg-de Vries Burger (KdVB) and Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equations respectively. Numerical results, exploring the effects of plasma parameters on the profile of nonlinear waves are expedited graphically for illustration. Positron to electron temperature ratio plays the role of a decisive parameter. It is noticed that compressive shocks and solitons evolve in the system if the positron to electron temperature ratio is less than a critical value. However, there exists a threshold value of positron to electron temperature ratio beyond which the system supports the rarefactive shocks and solitons. The results may have importance in the relativistic plasmas of pulsar magnetosphere.     

Cross-scale coupling at a perpendicular collisionless shock

A full particle simulation study is carried out on a perpendicular collisionless shock with a relatively low Alfven Mach number (M_A = 5). Recent self-consistent hybrid and full particle simulations have demonstrated ion kinetics are essential for the non-stationarity of perpendicular collisionless shocks, which means that physical processes due to ion kinetics modify the shock jump condition for fluid plasmas. This is a cross-scale coupling between fluid dynamics and ion kinetics. On the other hand, it is not easy to study cross-scale coupling of electron kinetics with ion kinetics or fluid dynamics, because it is a heavy task to conduct large-scale full particle simulations of collisionless shocks. In the present study, we have performed a two-dimensional (2D) electromagnetic full particle simulation with a “shock-rest-frame model”. The simulation domain is taken to be larger than the ion inertial length in order to include full kinetics of both electrons and ions. The present simulation result has confirmed the transition of shock structures from the cyclic self-reformation to the quasi-stationary shock front. During the transition, electrons and ions are thermalized in the direction parallel to the shock magnetic field. Ions are thermalized by low-frequency electromagnetic waves (or rippled structures) excited by strong ion temperature anisotropy at the shock foot, while electrons are thermalized by high-frequency electromagnetic waves (or whistler mode waves) excited by electron temperature anisotropy at the shock overshoot. Ion acoustic waves are also excited at the shock overshoot where the electron parallel temperature becomes higher than the ion parallel temperature. We expect that ion acoustic waves are responsible for parallel diffusion of both electrons and ions, and that a cross-scale coupling between an ion-scale mesoscopic instability and an electron-scale microscopic instability is important for structures and dynamics of a collisionless perpendicular shock.     

Electrostatic shock structures in a multi-species nonthermal dusty plasma

Propagation of the dust-acoustic shock waves (DASWs) in a dusty plasma containing arbitrarily charged dust, positive and negative ions following nonthermal (Cairn’s) distribution, and electrons following q-(nonextensive) distribution, has been investigated. The reductive perturbation technique is used to derive the Burgers equation for dust’s fluid dynamics. The basic features (viz. polarity, amplitude, speed, etc.) of DASWs are found to be significantly modified due to the effects of arbitrarily charged dust, number density and temperatures of heavier/lighter ions, nonextensive electrons, and dust kinematic viscosity. The present investigation can be very effective for understanding the nonlinear characteristics of the DASWs in space and laboratory dusty plasmas.     

Dust acoustic waves in a collisional strongly coupled dusty plasmas

Progress in understanding the nonlinear features of dust-acoustic waves (DAWs) which accompany a collisional strongly and weakly coupled unmagnetized dusty plasma with Boltzmann distributed electrons, ions and negatively charged dust grains is presented. By using a hydrodynamic model, the Korteweg–de Vries-Burgers (KdV-Burgers) equation is derived. The existence regions of the solitary pulses are defined precisely. Furthermore, numerical calculations reveal that, due to collisions, the DAWs damp waves and the damping rate of the waves depends mainly on the collision frequency. The collisions are found to significantly change the basic properties of the DAWs. The effects of electron-to-ion concentration ratio, and ion-to-electron temperature ratio have important roles in the behavior of the DAWs. The results may have relevance in space and laboratory dusty plasmas.     

Fundamentals of collisionless shocks for astrophysical application, 2. Relativistic shocks

In this concise review of the recent developments in relativistic shock theory in the Universe we restrict ourselves to shocks that do not exhibit quantum effects. On the other hand, emphasis is given to the formation of shocks under both non-magnetised and magnetised conditions. We only briefly discuss particle acceleration in relativistic shocks where much of the results are still preliminary. Analytical theory is rather limited in predicting the real shock structure. Kinetic instability theory is briefed including its predictions and limitations. A recent self-similar relativistic shock theory is described which predicts the average long-term shock behaviour to be magnetised and to cause reasonable power-law distributions for energetic particles. The main focus in this review is on numerical experiments on highly relativistic shocks in (i) pair and (ii) electron-nucleon plasmas and their limitations. These simulations do not validate all predictions of analytic and self-similar theory and so far they do not solve the injection problem and the self-modification by self-generated cosmic rays. The main results of the numerical experiments discussed in this review are: (i) a confirmation of shock evolution in non-magnetised relativistic plasma in 3D due to either the lepton-Weibel instability (in pair plasmas) or to the ion-Weibel instability; (ii) the sensitive dependence of shock formation on upstream magnetisation which causes suppression of Weibel modes for large upstream magnetisation ratios σ>10⁻³; (iii) the sensitive dependence of particle dynamics on the upstream magnetic inclination angle θ _Bn , where particles of θ _Bn >34° cannot escape upstream, leading to the distinction between ‘subluminal’ and ‘superluminal’ shocks; (iv) particles in ultra-relativistic shocks can hardly overturn the shock and escape to upstream; they may oscillate around the shock ramp for a long time, so to speak ‘surfing it’ and thereby becoming accelerated by a kind of SDA; (v) these particles form a power-law tail on the downstream distribution; their limitations are pointed out; (vi) recently developed methods permit the calculation of the radiation spectra emitted by the downstream high-energy particles; (vii) the Weibel-generated downstream magnetic fields form large-amplitude vortices which could be advected by the downstream flow to large distances from the shock and possibly contribute to an extended strong field region; (viii) if cosmic rays are included, Bell-like modes can generate upstream magnetic turbulence at short and, by diffusive re-coupling, also long wavelengths in nearly parallel magnetic field shocks; (ix) advection of such large-amplitude waves should cause periodic reformation of the quasi-parallel shock and eject large-amplitude magnetic field vortices downstream where they contribute to turbulence and to maintaining an extended region of large magnetic fields.     

Dust drift shock waves with non-Maxwellian ion population in nonuniform collisional dusty plasmas in planetary environments

Linear and nonlinear propagation of dust drift waves are investigated in the presence of Cairns and Kappa distributed ion population and Boltzmannian electrons. It is found the frequency of the dust drift wave is greatest for the Cairns, intermediate for Kappa and the least for the Maxwellian distributed ions. Using the drift approximation, a nonlinear equation is derived for the dust drift shock waves which reduces to a Korteweg-de Vries-Burgers (KdVB)-like equation in the comoving frame of reference. The solution of the KdVB-like equation is obtained using the tanh method. It is found that the non-Maxwellian ion population, dust neutral collision frequency as well as the inverse dust density scale length inhomogeneity alter the propagation characteristics of the nonlinear dust drift shock waves. Interestingly, it is found that the non-Maxwellian ion population modifies the scale lengths over which the nonlinear structures are formed. The work presented here may be useful to understand the low frequency electrostatic shock waves in inhomogeneous dusty plasmas such as those found in planetary environments.     

Current-driven electrostatic dust-cyclotron instability in a collisional plasma

Electrostatic dust-cyclotron (EDC) waves can be excited in a collisional, magnetized, dusty plasma by passing a current along the magnetic field, B, permeating the plasma. The minimum B field-aligned electric field required for excitation of the EDC waves is typically several times smaller than the one required for excitation of dust-acoustic (DA) waves.Two dusty plasmas are considered in more detail, namely (a) a comet tail plasma, and (b) one which may be produced in a laboratory device of the type described by Xu et al. (1992).     

Dust-acoustic solitary waves in a magnetized dusty plasmas with nonthermal ions and two-temperature nonextensive electrons

A rigorous theoretical investigation has been made on the obliquely propagating dust-acoustic (DA) waves in a magnetized dusty plasmas consisting of distinct temperature q-distributed electrons with distinct strength of nonextensivities, nonthermal ions and negatively charged mobile dust grains, and analyzed by deriving the Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation. It is found that the characteristics and the properties of the DA solitary waves (DASWs) are significantly modified by the external magnetic field, relative temperature ratio of ions, relative number densities of electrons as well as ions, the nonextensivity of electrons, nonthermality of ions and the obliqueness of the system. The possible implications of the results obtained from this analysis in space and laboratory dusty plasmas are briefly addressed.