Unidirectional transport of ions and perturbation of plasma distribution functions by ion-acoustic solitons: Numerical simulation and analytical solution

Abstract

New features of motion of background plasma ions in the presence of ion-acoustic solitons are analyzed by using a hydrodynamic model. Based on the ergodic hypothesis, ion velocity distribution functions are obtained analytically for the first time. It is shown that the initial Maxwellian distribution of ions takes a “beam-like” form in the region of plasmas occupied by solitons. Main parameters of the distribution functions of the background plasma corresponding to solitons of different amplitudes are determined. An important case of soliton trains motion, which often observed in experiments, as well as some other experimental aspects are also considered.