Eur. Phys. J. D (2012) 66: 302
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30315-x

Regular Article

Head-on collision of ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves in a two-electron-temperature plasma

Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, Viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy

^a e-mail: carbonaro@dmi.unict.it

Received: 19 May 2012
Received in final form: 14 August 2012
Published online: 4 December 2012

Abstract

A plasma composed of ions and two species of electrons at different temperatures (hot and cold) is considered. A modified Korteweg-de Vries equation is derived which describes the evolution of rarefactive and compressive ion-acoustic solitons or steady electrostatic shocks, according to whether the relative concentrations and the relative temperatures assume critical values. By using the extended Poncaré-Lighthill-Kuo perturbation method the head-on collision between two countertravelling ion-acoustic pulses are studied. It is shown that the interaction between solitons produces a shift in the trajectories of motion, such an effect also exists for interacting steady shocks but with different characteristics.