Nonlinear compressional electromagnetic ion-cyclotron wavepackets in space plasmas

Yannis Kourakis, P K Shukla

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The parametric coupling between large amplitude magnetic field-aligned circularly polarized electromagnetic ion-cyclotron (EMIC) waves and ponderomotively driven ion-acoustic perturbations in magnetized space plasmas is considered. A cubic nonlinear Schrodinger equation for the modulated EMIC wave envelope is derived, and then solved analytically. The modulated EMIC waves are found to be stable (unstable) against ion-acoustic density perturbations, in the subsonic (supersonic, respectively) case, and they may propagate as "supersonic bright" ("subsonic dark", i.e. "black" or "grey") type envelope solitons, i.e. electric field pulses (holes, voids), associated with (co-propagating) density humps. Explicit bright and dark (black/grey) envelope excitation profiles are presented, and the relevance of our investigation to space plasmas is discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)441-450
Number of pages10
JournalNonlinear Processes in Geophysics
Volume12
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geochemistry and Petrology
  • Geophysics
  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Nonlinear compressional electromagnetic ion-cyclotron wavepackets in space plasmas'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this