Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525
DOI 10.1007/s10509-012-1073-y
O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E
Dust-acoustic soliton in a plasma with multi-species ions and
kappa-distributed electrons
M.P. Bora · B. Choudhury · G.C. Das
Received: 7 February 2012 / Accepted: 3 April 2012 / Published online: 14 April 2012
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract In this work, we consider the formation of elec-
trostatic, dust-acoustic solitary structure in a unmagnetized
plasma with Lorentzian electrons (kappa-distributed) and
more than one species of thermal ions (Maxwellian). The
work is inspired by results of different space-based observa-
tions of electrostatic solitary waves (ESW) in the near-earth
and magnetospheric plasmas and recent experimental real-
ization of existence of superthermal electron component in
various space plasmas. We have, in this work, shown that
existence of compressive potential structure is possible only
with more than one species of thermal ions. Besides, forma-
tion of compressive double layers is also possible which de-
pends on the amount of deviation of the electron thermal ve-
locities from a Maxwellian distribution. We show that both
dust-temperature and super-thermal electrons lead to a de-
crease in the soliton amplitude.
Keywords Dust-acoustic soliton · Kappa distribution
1 Introduction
Isolated electrostatic solitary waves (ESW) or solitons are
common occurrences in the near-earth plasmas and are rou-
tinely observed in the boundary layers and turbulent re-
gions of the magnetosphere (Pickett et al. 2008). In recent
years, many authors have tried to model these ESWs with
M.P. Bora () · B. Choudhury
Physics Department, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781014, India
e-mail: mpbora@gauhati.ac.in
G.C. Das
Institute of Advance Studies in Science and Technology,
Guwahati 781035, India
the help of different physical models (Tsurutani et al. 1998;
Lakhina et al. 2000; Franz et al. 2005; Chen et al. 2005;
Williams et al. 2005, 2006). Most of the observational and
theoretical studies have indicated that these ESWs are ba-
sically potential structures (compressive and rarefactive)
with density structures (enhancement and compression) and
weak double layers (Pickett et al. 2008). In this work, we
focus primarily on three aspects of the space plasma dynam-
ics in relation to formation of solitary potential structures—
presence of a warm dust-fluid, effect of non-thermal electron
distribution, and effect of multi-species ions with different
temperatures (and inertia).
Solitons or double layers are plasma sheaths (discon-
tinuities) moving in a plasma, which require competing
species of charged particles with different masses (inertia)
and charges. In an electron-ion plasma, these requirements
are fulfilled due to colder ions with their large inertia, which
helps in formation of plasma sheaths. So, an electron sheath
in a plasma can be effectively modified by equally hot ions.
In a dusty plasma however, the situation is quite different.
Formation of plasma sheath is possible in a dusty plasma,
even when the electrons and ions can be equally hot, owing
to significantly lower temperature of the dust particles and
their large inertia and variable charges.
It is now well known that dust particles are ubiqui-
tous in various space and astrophysical plasmas includ-
ing Earth’s magnetosphere. Some example of dusty plasma
environments are solar wind, ionospheres and magneto-
spheres of planets, planetary rings (viz. Saturn’s ring sys-
tem), etc. Nano and micro-scale dust particles in Earth’s
magnetosphere usually consist of carbonic meteoroids ma-
terial which include Si, S, Ca, Mg, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni
(Divine et al. 1986). These finite size dust particles acquire
charges due to interactions with the solar wind (and radia-
tion) and the magnetospheric plasma. The interaction pro-
516
cesses can be primarily classified into absorptions of elec-
trons and ions by the dust particles from the plasma environ-
ments, emission of secondary electrons, and photoelectric
emissions (Horanyi et al. 1988; Goertz 1989). Presence of
heavy dust particles can modify the plasma dynamics by in-
troducing new eigenmodes such as dust-acoustic mode (Rao
et al. 1990; Melandsø et al. 1993), dust-ion-acoustic mode
(Shukla and Silin 1992), dust-cyclotron mode, and dust-drift
mode (Shukla and Rahman 1998). Subsequently, the effect
of non-thermal electrons and ions on a hot dust-fluid is also
quite important and was studied by several authors (Rao
et al. 1990; Mamun et al. 1996).
Space plasmas, in general, can be largely modeled with
Maxwellian velocity distribution. However, advancement
of satellite based technologies in recent years, has led to
the realization that most of these plasmas, especially the
near-earth plasmas, have high energy tails and heat-flux
shoulders, which may be attributed to the fact that these
plasmas are quite inhomogeneous and semi-collisionless
(Marsch et al. 1982; Ma and Summers 1991; Summers
et al. 1994). Subsequently, it has been established that
these plasmas are best modeled by a generalized Lorentzian
or kappa distribution (especially the electron distributions)
rather than by a pure Maxwellian (Summers and Thorne
1991, 1992). Lorentzian distribution function has a spec-
tral index κ which models its high energy tail. In the limit
of κ → ∞, it becomes a Maxwellian distribution function.
Experimental observations on solar wind plasmas, in recent
years, have established that these plasmas have a spectral
index (Qureshi et al. 2003) ∼2.8. In the Earth’s magneto-
sphere, the spectral index is typically observed (Pokhotelov
et al. 2007) in the range 2 ≤ κ ≤ 8. In the recent past, many
authors have considered such superthermal plasmas involv-
ing electrons, ions, and positrons (El-Awady et al. 2010;
El-Labany et al. 2010; El-Tantawy et al. 2011; Sabry et al.
2011; El-Bedwehy and Moslem 2011).
In this paper, we consider the process of formation of
dust-acoustic ESWs in the presence of a super-thermal elec-
tron component and more than one species of thermal ions.
The super-thermal electrons are modeled with a Lorentzian
distribution function characterized by a spectral index κ.
The thermal ions are assumed to obey Maxwellian distri-
bution function. The inertia required for the formation of
solitary structures is provided by the relatively cold massive
dust particles. In Sect. 2, we describe our model of warm
dusty plasma with super-thermal electrons, where we also
review the dust-charging process in the view of its impor-
tance on formation of dust-acoustic solitary structures. In
Sect. 3, we study the formation of small amplitude solitary
waves with the help of a Korteweg-de Vries (K-dV) formal-
ism based on a reductive perturbation analysis. The results
derived in Sect. 3 are largely known (Das et al. 2010). In
Sect. 4, we consider the formation of arbitrary amplitude
Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525
solitary waves with the help of a pseudo-potential (Sagdeev
potential) analysis. In this section, we consider the detailed
current-balance equations for Maxwellian ions, Lorentzian
electrons, and spherical dust grains and derive the necessary
integrals. We also discuss the role of dust-potential and its
role on the formation of compressive solitary potential struc-
tures. We derive the necessary asymptotic conditions for for-
mation of solitary structures with Lorentzian electrons and
discuss the effect of super-thermal electron on these struc-
tures. In Sect. 5, we consider the effect of dust temperature.
In Sect. 6, we conclude.
2 Model of the plasma
In this section, we restrict our analysis to a one-dimensional,
ideal model of unmagnetized plasma consisting only of
one species of Boltzmanian ions and Lorentzian electrons
(kappa distributed) contaminated by negatively charged,
warm dust particles with dust-charge fluctuation. Before
writing down the basic equations governing the plasma
model, it is however worthwhile to consider the possible
regime where this theory might be applicable
2.1 Regime of validity
We know that deviation of velocity distribution function
(VDF) from Maxwellian, may occur in any low density
plasmas in different astrophysical and laboratory contexts,
where binary collisions among the charged particles are suf-
ficiently less, which leads to existence of non-thermal tails
in the VDF. The modeling of VDFs in terms of Lorentzian or
kappa distribution was first proposed by Vasyliunas (1968).
A specific example of such plasmas are solar wind plas-
mas (Scudder and Olbert 1979a, 1979b), where highly de-
viated VDF are found to exist for the electron population.
As we know that relaxation of velocity distribution to a
Maxwellian in a collisional plasma occurs mainly through
collisions among the unlike particles (primarily the electrons
and ions), in absence of such collisions, the lighter species
is expected to reach high velocity paving a way for a runway
tail (Chen 1990). This can be expected to occur in plasmas
similar to solar wind, where the electron VDF, near 1 AU,
which is well inside the earth’s magnetosphere, are typically
observed to be made of a thermal core and a superthermal
halo (tail). Though the exact reason for this superthermal
halo population is yet to be understood fully, collective tur-
bulent processes are thought to be responsible for acceler-
ation of the lighter species (electrons) to superthermal en-
ergies (Yoon et al. 2006; Rhee et al. 2006). Alternatively,
some authors have used a different thermodynamical con-
cept known as the “nonextensive” entropy, to explain this
Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525 517

non-Maxwellian VDF, in which a kappa-like VDF is a natu-
ral solution to the thermodynamic equilibrium (Tsallis 1988;
Leubner 2002; Treumann 1999).
Based on these observations, we shall restrict our analy-
sis only to kappa-distributed electrons with thermal ions and
dust particles.
2.2 Basic equations
whichever is lower. The quantities μ and ν are the nor-
malized equilibrium ion and electron densities (μ, ν) =
(ni0 , ne0 )/(zdo nd0 ) and β = Ti /Te is the ion-electron tem-
perature ratio. Note that the equilibrium charge-neutrality
condition is given by μ = 1 + ν. In writing Eqs. (1)–(4), we
have assumed a polytropic dust pressure,
γ
pd ∝ nd , (7)

The basic equations (normalized), governing the dynamics where γ is the polytropic index and the equilibrium dust
of the dust, are the equation of continuity, equation of mo- pressure pd0 = nd0 KTd .
mentum, equation of state, followed by Poisson equation, The normalized ion and electron densities are respec-
tively given by,
∂nd ∂
+ (nd ud ) = 0, (1)

∂t ∂x
 ni = μe−sφ , (8)
∂ud ∂ud ∂pd ∂φ  −(κ−1/2)
nd + ud +σ = −zd nd , (2) sβφ
∂t ∂x ∂x ∂x ne = ν 1 − , (9)
κ − 3/2
∂pd ∂pd ∂ud
+ ud + γpd = 0, (3)
∂t ∂x ∂x where s = (μ + νβ)−1 . As we have normalized the dust-
∂ 2φ charge number by its equilibrium value zd0 , without loss of
= zd nd + ne − ni , (4) any generality, we can assume zd0 ≡ 1.
∂x 2
where nd , ud and pd are the number density, velocity, and
2.3 Dust-charging
pressure of the dust particles, respectively, zd is the charge
number residing on the surface of the dust grains, ne,i are the
electron and ion number densities, and φ is the electrostatic As we know that the charging of the dust-grains in a plasma
plasma potential. We note that for multi-species ions, the ion is the result of imbalance of the electron and ion currents

density ni has to be replaced by i ni , where the summation Ie,i ,
extends over different species of ions with different temper-
∂qd 
atures (and may be with different masses). We have chosen = Id , Id = qj vj σjd fj (vj ) d 3 vj , (10)
to normalize the electron and ion densities by (zd0 nd0 ), dust ∂t
j =e,i
density by nd0 , electrostatic potential by KTeff /(ezd0 ), pres-
sure by p0 , velocities by the dust acoustic velocity cd . The where qj and fj are the corresponding charge and velocity
quantity σ denotes the normalized dust temperature Td /Teff . distribution of the respective species and σjd is the charging
The subscript ‘0’ refers to the equilibrium values of the re- cross-section of the dust-grains by the respective species,
spective quantities. In the above equations, time is normal-  
ized by the characteristics dust-oscillation time ωd−1 , where σjd = πrd2 1 −
2qj ϕd
, (11)
ωd is the dust-oscillation frequency, and length is normal- mj vj2
ized by the equivalent Debye length λd ,
with ϕd being the dust-potential with respect to the plasma
 2 e2 1/2  1/2 and rd is the radius of the dust grains. We have assumed that
4πnd0 zd0 KTeff
ωd = , λd = 2 e2
, the dust particles are spherical and homogenous. For a self-
md 4πnd0 zd0
consistent dust-charging equation, we need to consider the
(5) velocity distribution of different species.
As we limit ourselves to Lorentzian electrons and
The dust acoustic speed is thus given by cd = ωd λd =
√ Maxwellian ions, our velocity distribution functions for ions
KTeff /md . The effective temperature Teff is defined as, and electrons are respectively given by,
Ti Te Ti  3/2 
Teff = = , (6) mi v2
μTe + νTi μ + νβ fiM (vi ) = nj exp − 2i , (12)
2πKTi vthi
which actually represents the temperature of the colder  
species. So, the dust temperature σ is actually measured ne Γ (κ + 1) ve2 −(1+κ)
fe (ve ) = 3/2 3 3/2
K
1+ 2 , (13)
with respect to the temperature of the ions or electrons, π θe κ Γ (κ − 1/2) κθe
518 Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525

where vthj = KTj /mj and on a frame moving with plasma at a velocity v0 . The
 1/2 nonlinear perturbation scheme for plasma parameter f =
2κ − 3 3 (nd , ud , pd, , zd , φ) is given as,
θe = vthe , κ> . (14)
κ 2 ∞

We note that for large κ, the Lorentzian distribution be- f = f0 + f˜ = f (0) +  N f (N ) , (23)
comes a Maxwellian, feK |κ→∞ = feM . So, from the current- N =1
balance equation, Eq. (10), the dust-charging equation for
where  is the small expansion parameter and f (0) ≡ f0 are
negatively charged dust grains, in general, can be written as, equilibrium values. In particular, we have,
 
∂zd ne ni ⎫
+ ηM,K zd = Iˆe0 − , (15) (1) (2)
nd = 1 + nd +  2 nd + · · · , ⎪ ⎪
∂t ν μ ⎪
⎪
(1) (2)
ud = ud +  2 ud + · · · , ⎪
⎬
(1) 2 (2)
where ηM,K are the natural decay rate of dust-charge (Rubab pd = 1 + pd +  pd + · · · , (24)
⎪
⎪
and Murtaza 2006), normalized by the dust-oscillation fre- (1) 2 (2)
zd = 1 + zd +  zd + · · · , ⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎭
quency ωd , φ = φ (1) +  2 φ (2) + · · · ,
 
e |Ie0 | 1 1
ηM = + , (16) for a static equilibrium. Using standard reduction procedure
rd ωd KTe + eϕd0 KTi − eϕd0 (Das et al. 2010), we can write the K-dV equation as,
 
e |Ie0 | αe 1
ηK = + , (17) ∂ (1) ∂ ∂3
rd ωd 1 + eαe ϕd0 KTi − eϕd0 φ + Aφ (1) φ (1) + B 3 φ (1) = 0, (25)
∂τ ∂ξ ∂ξ
with αe = 2(κ − 1)/(κme θe2 ) and Iˆe0 = |Ie0 /(eωd zd0 )| is the where the coefficients A and B are given by,
normalized equilibrium electron current.
γσ
A = −v0 (α + σ11 ) − (γ − 1)(α + σ11 )
2v0
3 Small amplitude solitary waves (K-dV soliton) (α + σ11 )(α − 2σ11 ) + 2(α
+ σ22 )
− , (26)
2v0 (α + σ11 )2
In this section, we review formation of small amplitude soli-
tary waves by considering a small perturbation in the above 1
B= , (27)
system f f0 + f˜, where, f˜ is the perturbed part of any 2v0 (α + σ11 )2
physical quantity f . From Eqs. (8) and (9), the correspond- where σ11,22 = σ1,2 /η, and the phase velocity of the wave is
ing perturbed electron and ion densities can be written as, given by,
ñe − ñi α1 φ̃ + α2 φ̃ 2 , (18) 1
v02 = 3σ + . (28)
(α + σ1 /η)
retaining only up to second order expansions in Eqs. (8), (9)
for small φ̃. Note that the equilibrium plasma potential, φ0 It is well known that this equation possesses the analytic
is assumed to be zero. In Eq. (18), solution,
   
κ − 1/2 ξ − Uτ
α1 = F1 (μ, ν) = νβs + μs, (19) φ (1) = φm
(1)
sech2 , (29)
κ − 3/2 w
(κ 2 − 1/4) 1 for the√
(1)
soliton, where U is the velocity, φm = (3U/A) and
α2 = F2 (μ, ν) = νβ 2 s 2 − μs. (20)
(κ − 3/2)2 2 w = 2 B/U are the amplitude and width of the soliton,
respectively. We note that the existence of the solution crit-
The dust-charge equation, Eq. (15), can be written as,
ically depends on the balancing of the nonlinearity and dis-
∂ z̃d persion, or particularly a non-zero value of the coefficient A.
+ ηz̃d = σ1 φ̃ + σ2 φ̃ 2 , (21)
∂t
3.1 Existence of solitons
where σ1,2 = F1,2 (Iˆe0 , Iˆe0 ) . The other equations, Eqs. (1)–
(3), can be written just by replacing the variables with their In order to see the condition on the nonlinear coefficient of
perturbed values. Following Washimi and Taniuti, reductive the K-dV equation for existence of a solitary wave, we first
perturbation technique can be employed to the basic equa- approximate the coefficients σ11,22 for small φ as,
tions after using a stretched space-time coordinates, 
Iˆe0 β βκ
1 3 σ11 s K 1 − + , (30)
ξ =  2 (x − v0 t), τ =2t (22) η 2(κ − 3/2) (κ − 3/2)
Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525 519

Fig. 1 The nonlinear coefficient A of the K-dV equation, Eq. (25) for different values of κ and σ . The curves with σ = 0 and large κ correspond
to plasma with Maxwellian electrons with cold dusts


Iˆe0 β2 β 2κ 2 find out the equivalent pseudo-potential (Chen 1990) V (φ),
σ22 −s 2 1 + − . (31)
2ηK 2(κ − 3/2)2 (κ − 3/2)2    φ
1 dφ 2
It is instructive to examine the behavior of the coefficient V (φ) ≡ − =− (zd nd + ne − ni ) dφ. (34)
2 dx
A for asymptotic values of the spectral index κ. It can be
shown that for large κ and cold dust (σ ∼ 0), the K-dV In practice, we however make a scale transformation ξ =
equation, Eq. (25) reduces to the one derived elsewhere (Das x − v0 t, so that the time and space derivatives can be written
et al. 2010). Performing an expansion near κ  3/2, we find as ∂/∂t ≡ −v0 ∂/∂ξ and ∂/∂x ≡ ∂/∂ξ . Using this, from the
that, continuity equation, Eq. (1), we have,
 ud0 − v0
(γ + 1) √ βs(a1 + ν) nd =
A − σ γ s 1 + sa1 (1 + β) + , (32) ud − v0
, (35)
2 (κ − 3/2)
for arbitrary σ , which reduces to which obeys the boundary conditions,

1  2ν + (a1 + ν)(2 + 3ν) at |x| → ∞, nd → 1, ud → ud0 . (36)

A − βs , (33)
2 (κ − 3/2)(a1 + ν)3/2
Using the dust momentum equation, Eq. (2) and expressing
for σ  1, where a1 is a positive constant. As we can see ud in terms of nd [from Eq. (35)], we have an equation for
that A remains negative for all values of κ and σ , signify- the dust density nd as,
ing only rarefactive solitons, which is consistent with sim-
ilar results (Das et al. 2010). In Fig. 1, we have shown the (n2d − 1)  γ  γσ
2
vM + nd − 1 = Id (φ), (37)
evolution of the nonlinear coefficient A as κ and σ vary. It 2n2d (γ − 1)
can be clearly seen that the A remains negative, signifying
existence of only rarefactive solitons. where vM = v0 − ud is the Mach number and
We note that a rarefactive (compressive) soliton in the  φ
plasma potential φ implies a negative (positive) potential Id (φ) = zd (ϕd ) dϕd , (38)
0
sheath moving in the plasma, apparently representing a com-
pressive soliton in the plasma ion (electron) density. with a boundary condition Id (0) = 0. Note that a general
solution of Eq. (37) for nd as a function of the plasma po-
tential φ is not possible, owing to the generalized polytropic
4 Arbitrary amplitude solitary waves pressure relation. One can however, solve Eq. (37) analyti-
cally, only for the polytropic index γ = 3, for which the dust
We now consider the possibility of large amplitude solitary density can be neatly expressed as,
waves with the help of a pseudo-potential (Sagdeev poten-
tial) analysis. Consider the Poisson equation, Eq. (4). Fol- 1  √ 1/2
nd = √ 2Id (φ) + (vM + 3σ )2
lowing usual procedure, the Poisson equation can be used to 2 3σ
520 Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525

1  √ 1/2
− √ 2Id (φ) + (vM − 3σ )2 . (39) the dust potential ϕd (relative to the plasma potential φ),
2 3σ which can be used in Eq. (38) to find out the integral Id (φ).
Once, Id (φ) can be estimated as a function of φ, it can be
For other values of γ , Eq. (37) has to be solved numerically.
used in Eq. (39) to solve for nd (φ), which can then be used
Finally, the pseudo-potential from Eq. (34) can be written
to find out the Sagdeev potential using Eq. (40). This process
as,
requires numerical treatment. For γ = 3, however, as has
  −(κ−3/2)

μ βs been pointed out earlier, the process can be simplified to an
V (φ) = 1− 1−φ extent and the integral in Eq. (40) can be written in a succinct
βs (κ − 3/2)
form as,
μ 
+ 1 − e−sφ  φ
s
 φ nd (φ) dφ
0
− zd (ψ)nd (ψ) dψ
0 1  √  √ 3/2
= √ (vM + 3σ )3 − 2Id (φ) + (vM + 3σ )2
≡ Ve + Vi + Vd , (40) 6 3σ
√  √ 3/2 
with the boundary conditions at φ = 0, − (vM − 3σ )3 + 2Id (φ) + (vM − 3σ )2
(47)
V (φ) = 0, (41)
but still requires numerical solution of Eq. (46).
d
V (φ) = 0. (42)
dφ 4.2 Dust potential and multi-species ions
The first, second, and third terms in Eq. (40), are the differ-
ent contributions i.e. from electrons (Ve ), ions (Vi ), and dust Before we proceed further, it is worth noting the behavior
particles (Vd ), to the pseudo-potential V (φ). of the dust potential ϕd as a function of φ and its role in
formation of different solitons. For large κ, Eq. (46) at φ = 0
4.1 Current balance can be written as,
 
In order to estimate the integrals in Eqs. (38) and (40), we (χδ − 1) − s(χδ + β)ϕd + O ϕd2 0, (48)
need to consider the current balance equation in the plasma, which can be used to approximate the value of ϕd0 =
which is given as, ϕd |φ=0 , which must be negative for negatively charged dust
IiM + IeK = 0, (43) particles. This implies that the condition χδ < 1, must be
satisfied, which sets an upper limit for the ion thermal ve-
where IiM,K are the currents due to the Maxwellian ions and locity or ion temperature β. Besides, the nature of ϕd (φ) is
Lorentzian electrons, for spherical dust grains of radius rd , very crucial for formation of solitons, as it determines the
    dynamic dust charge number zd as a function of the plasma
KTi 1/2 eϕd potential φ. In order to illustrate its significance, we con-
IiM = 4πerd2 ni exp 1 − , (44)
2πmi KTi sider a second species of ions (indicated by the subscript
√ ‘2’) along with the existing one. We note that for spherical
Γ (κ + 1) κ
IeK = −2 πerd2 θe ne dust particles, −ezd (ϕd ) = rd Teff ϕd /e, so that the normal-
Γ (κ − 1/2) κ 3/2 (κ − 1)
ized dust charge number is given by,
 
2eϕd −κ+1 ϕd
× 1− . (45) zd = , (49)
κme θe2 ϕd0
Using these expressions in Eq. (43) and using expressions which is unity at φ = 0 or equivalently at infinity.
for ni,e from Eqs. (8), (9), we get, We consider some typical plasma parameters, relevant
in the case of Earth’s magnetospheric environment. The
(κ − 3/2)1/2 Γ (κ + 1)
χδ(1 − sϕd )e−sφ − typical electron and ion densities in the Earth’s magneto-
κ(κ − 1) Γ (κ − 1/2) spheric region (Pickett et al. 2008; Popel et al. 2011) are

1−κ 
1/2−κ ne,i ∼ 20 cm−3 with temperatures Te,i ∼ 100–200 eV. Dust
ϕd βs φβs
× 1− 1− = 0, density, nd , can vary from ∼106 cm−3 from the regions of
(κ − 3/2) (κ − 3/2)
(46) cometary tails to about 10−6 cm−3 in the region of interplan-
etary space (Popel et al. 2011). The charge on the dust parti-
where χ = (vthi /vthe ), ratio of the ion and electron thermal cle may reach (Popel et al. 2011) up to 104 e. With these pa-
speeds and δ = μ/ν. The above equation can be solved for rameters, the normalized densities in our case μ, ν ∼ 1 with
Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525
Fig. 2 The dependence of normalized dust charge number zd on the
plasma potential. It decreases from unity to zero at about φ −7.4.
The other parameters are ν = 0.5, β = 0.01, and μ2 = 0.5, β2 = 0.5.
zd nd ∼ 10 cm−3 . The temperature ratio β ∼ 1. We also note
that these parameters can vary widely depending upon the
region we are considering and typical parameters, we are us-
ing in this calculation, are only indicative of such regions. In
Fig. 2(a), we have plotted the normalized dust charge num-
ber zd as a function of φ. Note that the dust charge number
decreases to zero as φ becomes negative, but increases al-
most linearly with positive φ to a large value before satura-
tion (curve with μ2 = 0), which means that as plasma poten-
tial becomes positive, the dust charge number reaches a large
value, which eventually prevents formation of a soliton (or a
double layer). So, in this situation, only a rarefactive soliton
becomes possible. For formation of a compressive soliton,
the dust charge number must reach a plateau for positive φ
and saturate at a lower value.
Consider now more than one species of ions with differ-
ent temperatures. Although the process can be generalized
to include any number of species of ions, the basic results
can be discussed on the basis of only two species of ions,
ni → ni + ni2 having two temperatures Ti and Ti2 . The
(0)
charge neutrality condition and the current balance equa-
tions now become,
) denotes derivative with respect to φ. Note that
μ + μ2 = 1 + ν, (50)
IeK + χ2 δ2 (1 − sϕd β/β2 )e−sφβ/β2
+ χδ(1 − sϕd )e−sφ = 0, (51)
where the subscript ‘2’ represents the corresponding quan-
tities for the second species of ions. The effect of the sec-
ond species of ions on the dust potential can be seen in
(0), for single species of ions, we can write,
521
(a) zd for Maxwellian electrons (κ → ∞), μ2 = 0 indicates a plasma
with only one species of ions. (b) zd with two-temperature ions with
different values of κ, κ ∼ 3/2 represents highly Lorentzian electrons
Fig. 2(b), which shows the normalized dust charge number
for two-temperature ions.
So, for formation of rarefactive as well as compressive
solitons in a plasma where both electron and ion inertias can
be neglected in comparison to the dust particles, existence
of multiple species of ions, is an essential requirement. Or,
in other words, both types of solitons can form in a dusty
plasma with multiple species of ions, even when the electron
and ion inertias are neglected. In what follows, we would
like to analyze the behavior of the pseudo-potential V (φ)
with different physical parameters.
4.3 Maxwellian electrons with cold dust (κ → ∞, σ = 0)
For a single species of ions (μ2 = 0), employing the bound-
ary conditions, Eqs. (41) on V (φ), we see that for V (φ) to
be a maximum at φ = 0, we must have,
1
vM > vc =  , (52)
1 + Id
where the (
this condition on the Mach number guarantees existence of
a soliton, but not vice versa. If at the origin, V (φ) becomes
flat i.e. neither a local maxima or minima (see Fig. 3), we
can still have either a rarefactive or a compressive soliton,
but not both. By looking at the actual behavior of V (φ), we
see that condition (52) must be fulfilled for the existence
of a rarefactive soliton. By taking asymptotic expansions of
Eq. (46) and its first derivative with respect to φ, near φ ∼ 0,
to estimate ϕd
Fig. 2(a) (curves with μ2 = 0). As we shall see, a saturated  
αδ
dust charge number is essential for formation of a compres- Id

(0) ≡ ϕd
(0) s − a 2 , (53)
sive soliton. The effect of Lorentzian electrons is shown in αδ + βeβ/a2
522
Fig. 3 (a) Sagdeev potential V (φ) for Maxwellian electrons with
cold dusts, showing existence of only rarefactive solitons with a
single species of ions. The parameters are ν = 0.5, β = 0.01. The
critical Mach number vc ∼ 0.85. (b) V (φ) with two species of ions
with different temperatures, showing both rarefactive and compres-
sive solitons and positive φ double layer. The other parameters are
where a2 = (β + αδ)/(αδ − 1). In Fig. 3, we have shown
the behavior of the Sagdeev potential V (φ), which shows
Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525
μ2 = 1.1, β2 = 1.0 (note the different scales in the second panel). (c)
an (d) The soliton amplitude φm and width Δ are shown with the Mach
number vM . The dashed vertical lines in both the panels separate the
rarefactive solitons (negative abscissa) from the compressive (positive
abscissa) ones
Mach number vM . We note that the normalized soliton am-
plitude is the first zero of the Sagdeev potential V (φ) away
the possibility of both compressive and rarefactive solitons
for multi-species ions but only rarefactive solitons for a sin-
gle species of Maxwellian ions. This is in conformation with
our comments made in the previous Section. With a single
species of Maxwellian ions, we can only have rarefactive
soliton, as shown in Fig. 3(a), owing to the monotonic be-
havior of the normalized dust-charge number. Besides, for
existence of a soliton, the Mach number must exceed the
critical number vc . The scenario, however is very different,
when there are more than one competing species of thermal
ions, as shown in 3(b). We see that with more species of
ions with different temperatures and mass, not only can two
kinds of solitons co-exist, but also there can be possibility of
formation of compressive double layers.
In the other two panels Figs. 3(c) and (d), the variations of
soliton amplitude φm and the width Δ are shown against the
from φ = 0, V (φ)|φ=φm ,=0 = 0. The soliton width Δ (nor-
malized by the Debye length) is inversely proportional to the
maximum depth d of the Sagdeev
√ potential (Buzarbarua and
Schamel 1981), Δ = φm / d. The vertical line in both pan-
els separates the compressive and rarefactive solitons. We
observe that the soliton amplitude increases with the Mach
number for both types of solitons (even with multi-species
ions), whereas, the width of the rarefactive soliton decreases
with the Mach number.
4.4 Lorentzian electrons with cold dust (arbitrary κ, σ = 0)
From the behavior of the dust potential ϕd for Lorentzian
electrons, it becomes obvious that effect of super-thermal
electrons is more pronounced for compressive solitons. The
equivalent condition for V (φ) having a local maxima at
Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525 523

Eq. (40) at φ = 0, which yields,


d2 
V

(0) = V (φ)
dφ 2 
φ=0
  
κ − 1/2

= s μ + νβ + nd (0) + Id (0) , (56)

κ − 3/2

where we have applied the boundary condition nd (0) → 1

and the (
) denotes derivative with respect to φ. To estimate
n
d (0), we carry out a Taylor expansion of Eq. (37), which
can be solved to find out n
d (0) as,

1
n
d (0) . (57)
γ σ − vM
2

Fig. 4 Sagdeev potential V (φ) for Lorentzian electrons with cold

dusts, showing the effect of highly thermal electrons on the existence of Using Eq. (57) in Eq. (56), we can write the condition for
compressive solitons even with multi-species of ions. The figure shows the Mach number vM for a local maxima for V (φ) at φ = 0
V (φ) for two ion species. The Mach number is set to vM = 0.7 and as,
other parameters are same as Fig. 3
 1/2
(κ − 3/2)
vM > γ σ + . (58)
φ = 0, for Lorentzian electrons with cold dusts and a sin- (κ − 3/2)Id

(0) + (κ − 1/2) − μs
gle species of Maxwellian ions can be written as,
This condition for critical Mach number reduces to (54) for

1/2 σ = 0 and to (52) for large κ with σ = 0. As we see that
1
vM >
μs + Id
(0) + νβs(κ − 1/2)(κ − 3/2)−1
which reduces to condition (52) for large κ, which has to
be satisfied for the existence of a soliton. As can be seen
from condition (54), as κ → 3/2, the limiting Mach number
vM for existence of a rarefactive soliton decreases or in other
words, rarefactive solitons, in principle, can exist for smaller
Mach number when κ  3/2. However, we must note that
only existence of a local maxima does not ensure existence
of a soliton. This can be verified by a numerical evaluation
of Eq. (40). By expanding the electron contribution to the
Sagdeev potential [Ve in Eq. (40)], near κ ∼ 3/2, we see
that
, (54) for finite dust temperature, the cut-off Mach number in-
creases which must be ≥ γ σ . We further note that as the
cut-off depends only the product γ σ , without loss of any
generality, we can assume γ = 3 and adjust σ accordingly,
for which an analytical expression for nd , Eq. (39) can be
used in the expression for Sagdeev potential. In Fig. 5, we
have shown the soliton formation domains of the Sagdeev
potential. In the top two panels, Fig. 5(a) and (b), rarefac-
tive solitons are shown for Maxwellian plasma (κ → ∞)
with increasing dust temperature [panel (a)] and effect of
super-thermal electrons [panel (b)]. We observe that for a
specific Mach number, increasing dust temperature leads to
decrease in soliton amplitude with increasing width. Similar
  
observation can also be made for the super-thermality of the
ν 3 βs
Ve (φ) κ− log −φ , (55)
βs 2 (κ − 3/2)
which shows that with highly super-thermal electrons, only
rarefactive solitons are possible, even for multi-species ions
with different temperatures. This phenomena is shown in
Fig. 4. As seen in the figure, when κ → 3/2, compressive
solitons (or double layers) ceases to exist, whereas rarefac-
tive solitons are least affected (not shown).
5 Warm dust
In this section, we carry out a full analysis with finite dust
temperature and super-thermal electrons. We consider first
only a single species of ions. In order to perform an asymp-
totic analysis near φ ∼ 0, we first take a double derivative of
electron fluid [panel (b)]. The lower panels show these be-
haviors for compressive solitons [panels (c) and (d)]. Over
all, we see that higher dust temperature as well as deviation
of the electron component from Maxwellian distribution
lead to destruction of dust-acoustic solitary structures. Note
that formation of compressive dust-acoustic potential struc-
ture is not possible in absence of more than one species of
ions. These findings can be compared to results obtained in
other multi-component plasmas such as electron-positron-
ion plasma (Popel S et al. 1995), where it has been ob-
served that addition of comparable fraction of positron to the
electron-ion plasma considerably reduces the ion-acoustic
soliton amplitude. This can be explained from the fact that
for a soliton to form, different contributions to the Sagdeev
potential must result in a balance. Any addition of a third
component either in the form of positrons or dust particles
524
Fig. 5 Domains of dust-acoustic electrostatic potential structures in terns of Sagdeev potential. Different plasma parameters are (a)
ν = 0.5, β = 0.01, vM = 0.9, γ = 3.0, μ2 = 0.9. (b) μ2 = 0.5 and β2 = 0.9. (c) ν = 0.3, μ2 = 1.2, vM = 0.7. (d) σ = 0.03
introduces an imbalance, as a result of which, the soliton is
destroyed. Similar statement can also be made for the su-
perthermal electrons, in our case, which is basically a de-
viation of the VDF from the state of thermal equilibria of
the other species (ions and dust), which creates an imbal-
ance among the contributions to the Sagdeev potential [see
Eq. (40)].
6 Conclusions
In this work, we have considered the formation of elec-
trostatic, dust-acoustic solitary structure in a unmagnetized
plasma with super-thermal Lorentzian electrons in the pres-
ence of more than one species of thermal ions. In the pres-
ence of a warm dust fluid, the electron and ion inertia could
be neglected and the inertia needed for formation of these
solitary structures is provided solely by the massive dust
particles. In the dust-acoustic regime, formation of solitary
structures requires more competing species which may in-
clude ions with different temperatures and masses. We have,
Astrophys Space Sci (2012) 341:515–525
in this work, shown that existence of compressive poten-
tial structure is possible only when more than one species
of thermal ions are present. This might be relevant in ex-
plaining experimental observation of electron holes (den-
sity depression) during formation of potential structures. We
have also discussed the effect of dust temperature and super-
thermal electrons on these electrostatic structures and have
shown that formation of compressive double layers is also
possible which depends on the amount of deviation of the
electron thermal velocities from a Maxwellian distribution.
We have found that both dust-temperature and super-thermal
electrons lead to a decrease in the soliton amplitude.
Acknowledgements It is a pleasure to thank the anonymous referee
for suggestions which have improved the readability of the paper. One
of the authors, BC, thanks UGC, India for financial assistance.
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