The role of ion beams in the propagation of linear and nonlinear ion-acoustic waves in space plasmas
| dc.contributor.author | Maxengana, Mihlali | |
| dc.contributor.author | Bharuthram, Ramesh | |
| dc.contributor.author | Maharaj, Shimul | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-12-04T07:47:41Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-12-04T07:47:41Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description.abstract | A detailed theoretical investigation of ion beam effects on linear and nonlinear ion-acoustic waves is conducted for a model with two adiabatic ion components and Boltzmann electrons for plasma models with a single ion beam and two counterstreaming ion beams. The linear analysis confirms that the slow ion-acoustic modes, which emerge in models with at least one ion beam, coexist with the fast modes, which occur in both beam and beamless plasma models. For increasing beam speed in the model with single or asymmetric counterstreaming beams, the backward propagating slow mode changes direction and couples with the forward propagating slow mode. One mode becomes unstable to the ion beam instability, and the other is damped for intermediate values of the beam speed. Both slow mode waves change propagation directions in the model with symmetric counterstreaming beams. There are two groups of beam ion-acoustic solitons, which are supported above a minimum threshold value of the beam speed of which one or both are subsonic for plasma beam configurations, which are, respectively, asymmetric or symmetric. While the propagation of the beam ion-acoustic solitons is continuous over the entire range of speeds between the pair of critical acoustic speeds for small deviations of the beam speed above a minimum threshold value, soliton propagation is discontinuous for higher beam speeds yielding a stopband region in soliton speed. Our results could be applied to various regions in the terrestrial magnetosphere where electrostatic solitary waves have been observed in conjunction with ion beams. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Maxengana, M., Maharaj, S.K. and Bharuthram, R., 2025. The role of ion beams in the propagation of linear and nonlinear ion-acoustic waves in space plasmas. Physics of Plasmas, 32(8). | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0269683 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10566/21501 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | American Institute of Physics | |
| dc.subject | Acoustics | |
| dc.subject | Beam plasma interactions | |
| dc.subject | Electromagnetic wave propagation in plasma | |
| dc.subject | Ion acoustic waves | |
| dc.subject | Plasma waves | |
| dc.title | The role of ion beams in the propagation of linear and nonlinear ion-acoustic waves in space plasmas | |
| dc.type | Article |