Solitary structures in an inhomogeneous plasma with pseudo-potential approach.

The set of nonlinear partial differential equations for the coupled ion acoustic and drift waves is reduced to the KdV equation, which is finally transformed into the form of energy integral equation of a pseudo particle in small amplitude limit. It is pointed out that this approach is convenient for choosing appropriate plasma parameters and numerically obtaining drift solitary wave profiles as compared to the solution of the KdV equation, particularly, in non-uniform plasmas. Electrons are assumed to follow the Kappa distribution function. It is found that the solitons amplitude decreases corresponding to steeper density and temperature gradients because of the restriction on the validity of local approximation. Deviation of electrons from thermal equilibrium distribution is supportive for the formation of electrostatic solitary structures by the coupled nonlinear ion acoustic and drift waves. The estimates of the width of the solitons formed by these coupled nonlinear electrostatic waves in the F-region ionosphere are found to be a few meters in agreement with the satellite observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]