https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e20020040
Long-range perturbations produced by a localized packet of ion-acoustic waves in a collisionless plasma
1
Istituto di Fisica del Plasma “Piero Caldirola",
C.N.R., Euratom-ENEA-CNR Ass., Milan, Italy
2
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551, USA
Corresponding author: a lontano@ifp.mi.cnr.it
Received:
25
July
2001
Revised:
31
October
2001
Published online: 15 March 2002
A well localized packet of ion-acoustic waves propagating in a collisionless unmagnetized plasma produces long-range second-order perturbations of the moments of the electron distribution function due to those electrons which cross the region where the electric field is present, take a “kick", and carry this information at large distances from the packet itself. An extended “halo" is thus formed around the wave-packet, with an intensity decreasing in space typically according to a power-law. This “halo" contains electrostatic as well as magnetic perturbations.
PACS: 52.35.-g – Waves, oscillations, and instabilities in plasmas and intense beams / 52.38.-r – Laser-plasma interactions / 94.20.Bb – Wave propagation
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2002
