Study of parametric regime for the formation of nonlinear structures in pair-ion-

electron plasmas beyond the KdV limit

W. Masood, Anam Faryal, and M. Siddiq

Citation: Physics of Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017); doi: 10.1063/1.5002696

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5002696
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/php/24/10
Published by the American Institute of Physics
 PHYSICS OF PLASMAS 24, 102304 (2017)

Study of parametric regime for the formation of nonlinear structures

in pair-ion-electron plasmas beyond the KdV limit
W. Masood,1,2 Anam Faryal,1 and M. Siddiq2
1
Department of Physics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road, Chak Shahzad,
Islamabad, Pakistan
2
National Centre for Physics, Shahdara Valley Road, Islamabad, Pakistan

(Received 13 May 2017; accepted 29 August 2017; published online 18 September 2017)
The propagation of one dimensional nonlinear electrostatic waves in unmagnetized pair-ion-electron
(PIE) plasmas comprising of oppositely charged inertial ions of equal mass but different temperatures
and Boltzmann electrons is investigated. In the linear analysis, the acquired biquadratic dispersion
relation yields fast and slow modes for PIE plasmas. In the nonlinear regime, the Gardner equation
in PIE plasmas is derived in the weak nonlinearity limit. The plasma parameter regime is explicitly
shown where the Korteweg de Vries equation used in the earlier studies is no longer valid and the
Gardner equation becomes relevant. Solitary and kink solutions of Gardner equation are also
presented. Interestingly, it has been observed that these solutions exist for the fast mode; however,
no such structure is found to exist for the slow mode. It is hoped that the present study would be
beneficial to understand the solitary and kink solutions in laboratory produced PIE plasmas and
parametric regimes in which this study is applicable. Published by AIP Publishing.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5002696]

I. INTRODUCTION
In recent times, a lot of attention has been paid to inves-
tigate the dynamics of pair plasmas because of their impor-
tant applications in astrophysical environments such as
pulsar magnetosphere, active galactic nuclei, neutron stars,
etc., where intense energies give birth to electrons and posi-
trons through pair production and annihilation.1–6 The short
life time of electron positron (e-p) plasma owing to the short
annihilation time of positrons and low density production of
positrons in the laboratory experiments make it difficult to
study the behavior of various collective modes. The major
impediment to generate a stable e-p plasma in laboratory is
the weak source of positrons (106 positrons/s) obtained using
the radioactive sources7 and (108  109 positrons/s) with
accelerator based sources. The Penning traps8 too cannot
confine a significant number of both positive and negative
species. The whole endeavor is, therefore, directed towards
the stable generation of pair-ion (PI) plasmas in laboratory
like Fullerene (C6 6
60 ) and Hydrogen (H ) plasmas. In contrast
with electron-positron (ep) plasma system, pair-ion plasma
has a long life time and therefore allows us to investigate
that the collective behavior of plasma state experimentally
under controlled conditions.
At the laboratory level, the method of magnetic filtering
has been used for the separation of electrons from fullerene
plasma, and through electron-impact ionization, pure PI fuller-
ene plasma has been produced. Oohara et al.9–12 showed that
three types of electrostatic waves can propagate along the
ambient magnetic field in such a plasma. These waves are the
ion plasma wave (IPW), ion acoustic (or ion thermal) wave
(IAW), and intermediate frequency wave (IFW). However, the
theoretical studies give the evidence of existence of only two
modes, i.e., IPW and IAW. The propagation frequency of
observed IAW is higher than those calculated by them and its
group velocity is negative and phase velocity is positive.13
Some authors have suggested the possible presence of elec-
trons in the Fullerene plasma and it is conjectured that these
electrons could enter the chamber indirectly or by undergoing
collisions between Cþ  14
60 and C60 electrons. Saleem presented
a criteria that ought to be satisfied in order to describe the sys-
tem as pure pair-ion plasma.15 Vranjes et al. suggested that the
electrons can be added in pair-ion plasmas to check the effect
of their presence on the stability of the plasma.14
There is a vast literature that explores the linear and
nonlinear propagation characteristics of solitary and shock
waves in pair-ion plasmas. Shukla and Hasegawa16 investi-
gated the effect of propagation of ion surface waves in a
pair-ion plasma and reported a reasonably good agreement
of theoretically obtained results with those found with labo-
ratory experiments. Finite amplitude electrostatic waves in
symmetric pair plasmas were studied by Dubinov et al.4 and
it was found that the solitary waves were present only when
the temperature of both species was not identical. Masood
and Rizvi17 obtained a bi-quadratic dispersion relation for
pair-ion-electron plasmas and the roots were termed as the
fast and slow modes, respectively. It was found that the KPB
equation aptly describes the nonlinear shock wave propaga-
tion for the fast mode, whereas the Burgers-KP equation was
observed to adequately describe the nonlinear propagation
characteristics of the slow mode. Most importantly, it was
found that the spatial scalelengths over which the nonlinear
shock formation occurs for the fast mode are much larger by
comparison with the slow mode. Very recently, the exact
solution of cylindrical Kadomtsev equation (CKP) and inter-
action of two solitons in pair-ion-electron (PIE) were investi-
gated by Batool and co-authors18 using the Hirota bilinear
formalism. It was found that the CKP equation admits

1070-664X/2017/24(10)/102304/9/$30.00 24, 102304-1 Published by AIP Publishing.

102304-2 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

horseshoe or parabolic-like soliton solutions. It was also II. MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION

observed that the amplitudes of the single and two-solitons
Consider an unmagnetized PIE plasma consisting of
do not change with time; however, they were found to
Boltzmannian electrons, singly charged (Z ¼ 1) positive and
change their trajectory after the collision in the multi-soliton
negative ions of equal mass (mþ ¼ m ¼ m). The governing
case.
equations describing the dynamics of the system under con-
It is a fairly well established fact that nonlinear waves
sideration are
are engendered in system because of the balancing of two
effects, i.e., nonlinearity and dispersion/dissipation. When @na
dispersion effects are dominant in the nonlinear medium, the þ r:ðna va Þ ¼ 0; (1)
@t
Korteweg de Vries (KdV) equation adequately describes the
propagation of nonlinear waves whereas the higher order @va q 1
þ ðva :rÞva ¼ E  rpa ; (2)
nonlinear wave dynamics in dispersive system can be studied @t m na m
through the modified Korteweg de Vries (mKdV) equation.19
where va (a ¼ þ;  denotes positive and negative ion spe-
All these studies20 are valid for a situation where the value
cies, respectively), na ; pa , m, q denote fluid velocity, number
of nonlinear coefficient A (in KdV and modified KdV equa-
density, mass, and charge of positive and negative ions. The
tion) is far above or below the value of any critical parame-
isothermal pressure for the same mass ions is given by the
ter. Therefore, formation of KdV or mKdV solitons is not
following thermodynamic equation of state
valid for a parametric regime corresponding to A ’ 0 in PIE
plasma because this critical limit gives rise to infinitely large pa ¼ na Ta ; (3)
amplitude nonlinear structures which cannot be studied in
the ambit of the reductive perturbation method.21 In order to where Ta represents temperatures of disparate charged ions
study nonlinear solitary waves of finite amplitude beyond the in the energy units and Tþ 6¼ T . The expression for elec-
KdV limit, one must consider another type of higher order trons, assumed be to inertialess, on the ion time scale is
nonlinear dynamical equation (often called the Gardner  
equation) which can be valid for A ’ 0. Numerous investiga- e/
ne ¼ n0 exp ; (4)
tions have been made in recent times to study the nonlinear Te
propagation of Gardner solitons in nonplanar geometries, in
multi-component plasmas as well as with particle distribu- and Gauss’s law is given by
tions that exhibit non-Maxwellian features.22–25
r:E ¼ 4peðnþ  n  ne Þ; (5)
The study of nonlinear evolution equations is important
from physics and mathematical stand point because physi- where n ; nþ , ne represent total (unperturbed as well as per-
cally we encounter many situations where the leading equa- turbed) number densities of negative and positive ions and
tion of phenomena appears as a nonlinear partial differential electrons. Since we are interested in the dynamics of electro-
equation. Mathematically speaking we encounter many static waves, the electric field can be written as the gradient
methods and structures to analyze these equations such as of scaler wave potential (/), i.e., E ¼ r/ which will give
the KdV equation, Sine-Gordon equation, Boussinesq equa-
us Poisson’s equation. At equilibrium, we have neo þ no
tion, etc. These equations contain only single nonlinear term
¼ nþo , where neo, no , and nþo represent unperturbed num-
which make our analysis simpler. There are various situa-
ber densities of electrons, and negative and positive ions.
tions where one cannot neglect dual nonlinear terms. For
The normalized form of basic set of equations in one dimen-
example internal waves in a stratified ocean,26 the long wave
sion is given here as under:
propagation in an inhomogeneous two-layer shallow liquid27
and ion acoustic waves in plasma with negative ion.28 The @nþ @
simplest model that illustrates these effects is the Gardner þ ðnþ uþ Þ ¼ 0; (6)
@t @x
equation (GE). This equation contains two different types of
nonlinearity simultaneously. This equation is integrable by @n @
þ ðn u Þ ¼ 0; (7)
the inverse scattering transform. This equation has both kinks @t @x
and soliton solutions.29 It is well known that through a linear @uþ @ @U r @nþ
þ uþ uþ ¼   ; (8)
transformation this equation can be reduced to an mKdV @t @x @x nþ @x
equation via given transformation. In this paper, we focus on
@u @ @U rb @n
the Gardner equation (GE) to investigate the effect of various þ u u ¼  ; (9)
plasma parameters on the characteristics (amplitude, width, @t @x @x n @x
etc.) of solitary and kink solutions in PIE plasma. @2U
The manuscript is structured as follows: The basic set of ¼ p exp ðUÞ þ ð1  pÞn  nþ : (10)
@x2
governing equations is presented in Sec. II. The KdV, mKdV,
and Gardner equations are derived in Secs. III–V, respec- Here, the ion fluid velocities þ and ffi u are normalized by
puffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
tively. The solitary and kink wave solutions of GE equation the ion-acoustic speed cs ¼ Te =m; the number densities na
are given in Secs. VI and VII. Section VIII is devoted to the are normalized by their equilibrium values nao ; and electro-
discussion of results. Finally, the main findings of this paper static wave potential / is normalized by Te =e. The space and
are recapitulated in Sec. IX. time variables are normalized in the units of positively
102304-3 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
charged ion Debye length kD ¼ Te =4pnþo e2 and its By using the stretched variables in Eqs. (11) and (12)
 3 into  Eqs.
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 5
(6)–(10), and collecting various powers of e, i.e., e2 ; e2 , we
plasma frequency xp ¼ 4pnþo e2 =m, respectively. We
obtain the following equations to the lowest order in e
have also defined r ¼ Tþ =Te ; b ¼ T =Tþ and p ¼ neo =nþo :
kU1
III. DERIVATION OF KdV EQUATION uþ1 ¼ ; (13)
r  k2
In order to study one dimensional electrostatic waves in kU1
unmagnetized pair-ion-electron plasmas, we define the u1 ¼ ; (14)
rb  k2
stretching of the independent variables as30
U1
1 nþ1 ¼ ; (15)
n ¼ e ð x  ktÞ;
2
r  k2
3
s ¼ e 2 t: (11) U1
n1 ¼ ; (16)
rb  k2
Here, e is a small (0 < e  1) expansion parameter which
indicates the strength of nonlinearity and k is the normalized pU1 þ ð1  pÞn1  nþ1 ¼ 0: (17)
phase velocity of ion acoustic wave which is to be deter-
Solving the above set of equations yields the following
mined. Employing the reductive perturbative technique, we
biquadratic dispersion relation for the electrostatic wave in a
expand the perturbed quantities na ; va , and / about their
PIE plasma17
equilibrium values in powers of e such that
pk4 þ ð2 þ pð1  rð1 þ bÞÞÞk2 þ rð1 þ b þ pðrb  1ÞÞ ¼ 0:
na ¼ 1 þ enða1Þ þ e2 nða2Þ þ e3 nða3Þ ………:; (18)
ua ¼ euða1Þ þ e2 uða2Þ þ e3 uða3Þ …………::;
The positive roots of above dispersion relation (neglecting
U ¼ eU1 þ e2 U2 þ e3 U3 …………: (12) the negative ones) are given as

ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
v
u
u qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u 2  p þ pð1 þ bÞr þ ð2  p þ pð1 þ bÞrÞ2  4rpð1 þ b þ pðrb  1ÞÞ
t
k¼ ;
2p
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi (19)
u qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u
u 2  p þ pð1 þ bÞr  ð2  p þ pð1 þ bÞrÞ2  4r pð1 þ b þ pðrb  1ÞÞ
t
k¼ :
2p

The upper sign is termed as the fast mode, whereas the lower of a single variable U1 , we obtain the following nonlinear
root is described as the slow mode of electrostatic ion acous- evolution equation:
tic wave under consideration. Slow mode has acoustic char- @U1 @U1 @ 3 U1
acter in limit of cold ions (Tþ ¼ T ¼ 0), whereas the fast þ AU1 þB ¼ 0; (20)
@s @n @n3
mode is predominantly ion acoustic (i.e., pair-ion) character.
The acoustic waves in pair-ion plasma reduces to ion plasma where
wave when temperature of positive and negative ions is ð p  1Þ 1 3k2 ð1  pÞ
equal, i.e., Tþ ¼ T . It is observed that inclusion of the tem- A¼    3
rb  k 2 ðr  k2 Þ rb  k2
peratures of positive and negative ions gives a biquadratic
dispersion relation from where the electron-ion and pair-ion rbð1  pÞ 3k2 r
þ  þ  ; (21)
cases in a pair-ion-electron plasmas can be retrieved in the 2 3 ðr  k Þ
2 3
ðr  k2 Þ3
rb  k
limit p ¼ 0, r ¼ 1, and p ¼ 1, b ¼ 0, respectively. The 0  2 2
1
absence of thermal motions of disparate charged ions 1 rb  k2 ðr  k2 Þ
B ¼ @ 2 A : (22)
(Tþ ¼ T ¼ 0) yields the quadratic dispersion relation for 2k 2
rb  k2 þ ð1  pÞðr  k2 Þ
the ion acoustic mode in pair-ion-electron plasmas. It is per-
tinent to mention here that the electron-ion mode is the ion Equation (20) is the well known KdV equation. The station-
acoustic mode, whereas the pair-ion mode is termed as the ary localized solution of Eq. (20) is given by21
acoustic mode.  
g
In the next higher order of e, by eliminating the quanti- U1 ¼ U1m sec h2 : (23)
ties with subscript 2 and denoting all the variables in terms d1
102304-4 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

The amplitude U1m and width d1 of KdV soliton are given by ð1  pÞ3k2 rbð1  pÞ 3k2
U1m ¼ 3UA 0 and d1 ¼ U4B0 and U0 is the velocity of the nonlinear e2 p þ   3
   2

rb  k2 rb  k2 ðr  k2 Þ3
structure. By taking A ¼ 0 and putting different values of !
plasma parameters (p ¼ ð0:67  0:73Þ; b ¼ 0:5) in it, one r
þ U1 @n U1 ¼ 0; (29)
can find the range of critical values of positive ion to electron ðr  k2 Þ3
temperature ratio (i.e., rc ¼ ð0:01  0:38Þ). The KdV equa-
tion does not give any solitary wave solution at critical val- e2 AU1 @n U1 ¼ 0; (30)
ues of r because the amplitude of KdV soliton becomes
infinite in the limit r ¼ rc and the validity of reductive per- where
turbation method breaks down. It is pertinent to mention
here that although the linear work closely follows the work ð p  1Þ 1 3k2 ð1  pÞ
A¼     3
by Masood et al.,17 the subsequent work done in this paper is rb  k2 ðr  k2 Þ rb  k2
entirely new as there is a need to go to higher order and
obtain a nonlinear evolution equation to study the formation rbð1  pÞ 3k2 r
þ  þ  : (31)
2 3 ðr  k Þ
2 3
ðr  k2 Þ3
of solitons around critical value. The main idea is to show rb  k
how to solve a nonlinear system where the KdV equation
does not give any valid physical situation in this particular To the next higher order of e, we obtain the following set of
problem and also emphasize the importance of this work in equations
multi-component plasmas.
k@n nþ3 þ @s nþ1 þ @n uþ3 þ @n ðnþ1 uþ2 Þ þ @n ðnþ2 uþ1 Þ ¼ 0;
IV. DERIVATION OF mKdV EQUATION (32)
We now make use of another set of stretched coordinate k@n uþ3 þ @s uþ1 þ uþ1 @n uþ2 þ uþ2 @n uþ1
to obtain the mKdV equation to describe the behavior of the
¼ @n U3  rð@n nþ3  nþ1 @n nþ2  nþ2 @n nþ1
nonlinear system near the critical parameter r ¼ rc . The 
stretched coordinates for mKdV equation are as follows:31 þn2þ1 @n nþ1 ; (33)

n ¼ eð x  ktÞ; k@n n3 þ @s n1 þ @n u3 þ @n ðn1 u2 Þ þ @n ðn2 u1 Þ ¼ 0;

(34)
s ¼ e3 t: (24)
k@n u3 þ @s u1 þ u1 @n u2 þ u2 @n u1
By using Eqs. (12) and (24) in Eqs. (6)–(10), we have found
ð1Þ ð1Þ
the same values of n6 ; u6 and k that we obtained for the ¼ @n U3  rbð@n n3  n1 @n n2  n2 @n n1
ð1Þ ð1Þ
KdV equation. After using the values of n6 ; u6 and k, and þ n21 @n n1 Þ; (35)
collecting the terms of the next order of e, we obtain  
pU2
! @nn U1 ¼ pU2 þ 1 þ ð1  pÞn2  nþ2
3k2 rb U2 2
n2 ¼   3
þ   3
U21 þ   ; (25)  
2 rb  k2 2 rb  k2 rb  k2 pU31
þ pU3 þ pU1 U2 þ þ ð1  pÞn3  nþ3 : (36)
! 6
3k2 r U2
nþ2 ¼ 3
þ 3
U21  ; (26) Now combining Eqs. (32)–(36), we obtain an equation of the
2 ðr  k Þ2
2ðr  k Þ 2 ð r  k2 Þ
form
!
3k3 rk k kU2
uþ2 ¼  þ U21  ; @U1 @U1 @ 3 U1
ð
2 rk 2 Þ3 ð
2 rk 2 Þ3 ð
rk 2 Þ2 ð r  k2 Þ þ K-U21 þK ¼ 0; (37)
@s @n @n3
(27)
3k3 krb where
u2 ¼   þ  3 0  2 1
2 3
2 rb  k 2 rb  k2 1 rb  k2 ðr  k2 Þ
2
! K ¼ @  A; (38)
2k 2 2
k 2 kU2 rb  k2 þ ð1  pÞðr  k2 Þ
  U1 þ ; (28)
2 2 rb  k2
rb  k

0 1
9ð1  pÞk2 rb 27k4 ð1  pÞ 6ð1  pÞk2 3ð1  pÞr2 b2
B         
2 4
5 C
B rb  k2 5 2 rb  k 2 5
rb  k 2 rb  k2 C
-¼B
B ð1  pÞrb
C: (39)
@þ 27k 4 2
9k r 6k 2
3r2
r pC
 4  þ   þ  A
ð 2 Þ5 ð 2 Þ5 ð 2 Þ4 ð 2 Þ5 ð 2 Þ4 2
rb  k2 2 rk rk r  k 2 rk r  k
102304-5 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

Equation (37) is the standard form of the mKdV equation. where h is a constant and has dependence upon parameters
The soliton solution of Eq. (37) is given by21 p, rc, b, and k. The term ðr  rc Þ is a small dimensionless
  expansion parameter, i.e., e ’ ðr  rc Þ and m ¼ 1 for r > rc
g
U1 ¼ U1m sec h : (40) and m ¼ 1 for r < rc .21 We obtain an equation of the fol-
d2
lowing form by putting Eq. (41) in Eq. (30)
The amplitude Uffi1m and d2 of solitary
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi wave are given by
U1m ¼ 6U0 =K- and d2 ¼ U1m K=6. The mKdV solitons e2 AU1 @n U1 ¼ e3 mhU1 @n U1 : (42)
have a finite value near r  rc and therefore it gives a more
The above equation must be included in the third order
closer value of solitary wave solution by comparison with
the KdV equation. To obtain much more closer value of soli- Poisson’s equation. To the next higher order in e, we obtain
tary wave solution around the critical value (r ¼ rc ) which the following equation
is valid for A ’ 0, we proceed to next higher order nonlinear 
equation known as the Gardner equation. @nnn U1 ¼ mhU1 @nU1 þ p@n U3 þ p@n U1 U2

V. GARDNER EQUATION pU21 @n U1
þ þ ð1  pÞ@n n3  @n nþ3 : (43)
In order to study one dimensional Gardner solitons in 2
PIE plasmas, we follow Eq. (30) by analyzing the ingoing
After simplification, Eq. (43) can be written in the following
solutions of Eqs. (6)–(10) which yields A ¼ 0 as U1 6¼ 0. It is
form:
obvious that A is a function of p, r, b, and k. As mentioned
earlier that for the PIE plasmas, the range of critical values
@s U1 þ BU1 @n U1 þ CU21 @n U1 þ L@nnn U1 ¼ 0; (44)
of positive ion to electron temperature ratio (i.e.,
rc ¼ ð0:01  0:38Þ) corresponding to different values of
where
plasma parameters is (p ¼ ð0:67  0:73Þ; b ¼ 0:5). Now for
r around its critical value (rc), A ¼ Ao can be expressed as21 0  2 2
1
1 rb  k2 ðr  k2 Þ
  L ¼ @  2 A; (45)
@A 2k 2
Ao ¼ m ðr  rc Þ ¼ mhe; (41) rb  k2 þ ð1  pÞðr  k2 Þ
@rc

0 1
9ð1  pÞk2 rb 27k4 ð1  pÞ 6ð1  pÞk2 3ð1  pÞr2 b2
B    
2 5
 
2 5
  
2 4
5 C
B rb  k 2 rb  k rb  k 2 rb  k2 C
M¼B
B ð1  pÞrb
C; (46)
@þ 27k 4 2
9k r 6k2
3r2
r pC
 4  þ   þ  A
rb  k2 2ðr  k2 Þ
5
ðr  k2 Þ5 ðr  k2 Þ4 2ðr  k2 Þ5 ðr  k2 Þ4 2

and zero coefficient of quadratic nonlinearity for the slow mode.

B ¼ mhL; C ¼ ML: (47) This leads to the important result that the Gardner solitons
exist only for the fast mode in pair-ion-electron plasmas.
Equation (44) is the standard Gardner equation in which B is
the coefficient of quadratic nonlinearity, C is the coefficient
of cubic nonlinearity, and L is the nonlinear dispersive coef-
ficient. This equation contains U1 and U21 terms of KdV and
VI. SOLITON SOLUTION OF GARDNER EQUATION
mKdV equation, respectively. It is essential to mention here
that if we neglect the term containing cubic nonlinearity The traveling wave solution of Gardner equation [i.e.,
(i.e., U21 @n U1 ), then the Gardner Eq. [i.e., Eq. (44)] reduces Eq. (44)] can be obtained by using the transformations g ¼
to the standard KdV equation whereas neglecting the qua- n  cs; @g ¼ @n ; and @s ¼ c@g
dratic nonlinearity reduces Eq. (44) to standard form of
MKdV equation [i.e., Eq. (37)]. The nonlinear term of KdV c@g U1 þ BU1 @gU1  CU21 @g U1 þ L@ggg U1 ¼ 0: (48)
equation vanishes in the limit r ¼ rc and r  rc because in
The following equation is obtained after integrating once the
this limit amplitude of the soliton approaches infinity which
above equation with respect to variable g
does not make any physical sense, whereas on the other
hand, the Gardner equation gives compressive and rarefac- BU21 CU31
tive solitary and kink wave solutions in these limits. It has cU1 þ  þ L@gg U1 ¼ 0: (49)
2 3
been found that the coefficient of quadratic nonlinearity
becomes zero for a range of plasma parameters for the fast For the sake of simplification of our calculations, we intro-
mode whereas no set of acceptable physical values gave us duce constants a and b in above equation such that
102304-6 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

FIG. 1. Surface plot to show the

regimes where the KdV solutions
become invalid and mKdV and
Gardner solutions are valid.

B C VII. KINK SOLUTION OF GARDNER EQUATION

a¼ ; b¼ : (50)
2 3 When the partial differential equation in a system
The simplified form of Eq. (49) is involves both dispersion and dissipation, the most suitable
and convenient method to solve the nonlinear partial differ-
cU1 þ aU21  bU31 þ L@gg U1 ¼ 0: (51) ential equation is the tangent hyperbolic method.29 Using the
tangent hyperbolic method and making use of the values of a
In order to obtain soliton solution of Gardner equation, we and b defined in Sec. VI, we arrive at the following compres-
assume the following ansatz29 sive kink solution of Gardner equation for r > rc and
a m ¼ 1:
uðgÞ ¼ ; (52)
1 þ k cos hðlgÞ hð16tan hðlgÞÞ
u¼ : (56)
2M
where U1 ¼ u and c, a and k are the unknown parameters
that are to be determined. Substitution of Eq. (52) in Eq. (51) The Gardner equation yields the following rarefactive kink
and equating different powers of cosh, we find the following solution in the limit r < rc and m ¼ 1
values of unknown parameters:
s
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi hð16tan hðlgÞÞ
 u¼ ; (57)
3c 1 2a2  9bl2 L 2M
a¼ ; k¼ ; c ¼ l2 L: (53) pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
a a 2 where l ¼ a=3 2Lb for both the compressive and rarefac-
tive kink solutions. The plus and minus signs in both the
After putting the values of unknown parameters in Eq. (52) cases represent the forward and backward propagating kink
and taking r > rc and m ¼ 1, the following compressive sol- solutions. Owing to the paucity of space, we will show the
iton solution of Gardner equation was obtained: results only for the forward propagating kink solutions.
6l2
u¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffi h2 L2 !: (54)
2 2  3L2 Ml2 cos h½lðgÞ
hþ
L
The Gardner equation yields following rarefactive solitary
wave solution for r < rc and m ¼ 1

6l2
u¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffi h2 L2 !: (55)
2 2  3L2 Ml2 cos h½lðgÞ
hþ
L
Note that
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiEqs. (54) and (55) yield the condition that
l < h= 6M. The results found from the Gardner equation
are depicted in Figs. 1–3. These figures clearly indicate that
both compressive and rarefactive Gardner solitons exist FIG. 2. Variation of the Gardner soliton for the case when r > rc and m ¼ 1
(i.e., compressive solitary structures) by varying the electron to positive ion
around critical value (i.e., rc ¼ ð0:01  0:38Þ) and these
density ratio, p. The solid line is for p ¼ 0.68, the dashed-dotted is for
Gardner solitons are different from KdV soliton because p ¼ 0.7, and the dashed line is for p ¼ 0.72. Other parameters are r ¼
KdV theory is not valid around critical values. 0:4; b ¼ 0:5; h ¼ 0:5 and l ¼ 0:1.
102304-7 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

FIG. 3. Variation of the Gardner soliton for the case when r > rc and m ¼ 1
(i.e., compressive solitary structures) by varying positive ion to electron
temperature ratio, r. The solid line is for r ¼ 0:4, the dashed-dotted is for
r ¼ 0:55, and the dashed line is for r ¼ 0:75. Other parameters are p ¼ 0.7,
b ¼ 0:5; h ¼ 0:5 and l ¼ 0:1.
FIG. 4. Variation of the Gardner soliton for the case when r < rc and
m ¼ 1 (i.e., rarefactive solitary structures) by varying the electron to posi-
tive ion density ratio, p. The solid line is for p ¼ 0.68, the dashed-dotted is
for p ¼ 0.69, and the dashed line is for p ¼ 0.7. Other parameters are r ¼
0:1; b ¼ 0:5; h ¼ 0:5 and l ¼ 0:1.

VIII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this section, we will discuss soliton and kink solutions
of the one dimensional Gardner equation in PIE plasma. We
would like to reiterate that the system under consideration
admits soliton and kink solutions only for the fast mode. It is
pertinent to mention here that the values of h and l should
be evaluated carefully keeping in view the limitations that
are outlined above. Figure 1 shows the surface plot to indi-
cate the parameter regimes where the KdV limit breaks
down. It can be seen that for a certain parameter range of p
and r, the quadratic linearity approaches zero which makes
the amplitude of the solitary wave go to infinity. It is, there- FIG. 5. Variation of the Gardner forward kink for the case when r > rc and
fore, necessary to consider higher order nonlinearities to m ¼ 1 (i.e., compressive kink structures) by varying the electron to positive
ion density ratio, p. The solid line is for p ¼ 0.68, the dashed-dotted is for
explain the solitary wave propagation. p ¼ 0.7, and the dashed line is for p ¼ 0.72. Other parameters are r ¼
Figure 2 explores the solitary solution of the Gardner 0:4; b ¼ 0:5; h ¼ 0:5 and l ¼ 0:45.
equation for r > rc and m ¼ 1 (i.e., compressive solitary
structures) by varying the electron to positive ion density
ratio, p. Note that only those values of p are chosen for
which the KdV equation breaks down. The range of p, as
mentioned above, in the case of PIE plasma is 0:67–0:73. It
has been observed that increasing the value of p mitigates
the amplitude of the compressive Gardner solitons. More
importantly, it has been found that for smaller values of p,
compressive solitary solutions are not possible. Once the
number of electrons are increased beyond a certain value
(which in our case corresponds to p  0:67), the system
admits physically reasonable Gardner solitons. This reflects
the fact that Gardner equation and its respective solutions are FIG. 6. Variation of the Gardner forward kink for the case when r > rc and
extremely important for multi-component PIE plasmas. m ¼ 1 (i.e., compressive kink structures) by varying positive ion to electron
Figure 3 shows the effect of increasing positive ion to temperature ratio, r. The solid line is for r ¼ 0:45, the dashed-dotted is for
electron temperature ratio, r, on the propagation characteris- r ¼ 0:55, and the dashed line is for r ¼ 0:65. Other parameters are p ¼ 0.7,
b ¼ 0:5; h ¼ 0:5 and l ¼ 0:45.
tics of the fast mode solitary wave. It is found that the
increasing r decreases the amplitude of the solitary wave.
Figure 4 investigates the effect of increasing p on the ampli- kink structures. Figure 5 investigates the effect of increasing
tude of fast mode rarefactive Gardner soliton for r < rc and electron to positive ion density ratio, p, on the forward propa-
m ¼ 1. It is found that like their compressive counterpart, gating kink for r > rc and m ¼ 1. It is found that the increas-
the amplitude of rarefactive Gardner soliton also mitigates, ing p, which is tantamount to depletion of negative ions from
in terms of amplitude, by adding more electrons or decreas- the system, enervates the amplitude of the kink. Figure 6 man-
ing negative ions in the system. This can easily be seen from ifests the effect of increasing ion to electron temperature ratio,
the equilibrium condition of the PIE plasmas. r, on the amplitude of compressive kinks. It is observed that
Figures 5–7 explore the effect of plasma parameters on the increasing r mitigates the amplitude of the kink structures
the propagation characteristics of compressive and rarefactive of Gardner equation.
102304-8 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

FIG. 7. Variation of the Gardner forward kink for the case when r < rc and
m ¼ 1 (i.e., rarefactive kink structures) by varying the electron to positive
ion density ratio, p. The solid line is for p ¼ 0.68, the dashed-dotted is for
p ¼ 0.69, and the dashed line is for p ¼ 0.7. Other parameters are
r ¼ 0:1; b ¼ 0:5; h ¼ 0:5, and l ¼ 0:45.

Figure 7 exhibits the rarefactive kink solution of

Gardner’s equation for r < rc and m ¼ 1 for the increasing
values of p. Like their compressive counterparts, the rarefac-
tive kinks also show a decreased amplitude, in terms of mag-
nitude, with the addition of more electrons in the system. It
is worth mentioning here that the amplitude of the solitary
solutions is found to greater than the kink solutions both for
the compressive and solitary cases. It is also found that the
kink structures are formed on much shorter spatial scales by
comparison with the solitary structures as can be seen from
Figs. 1–6.
Finally Fig. 8 shows a comparison of the solutions of
KdV, MKdV, and Gardner equations. Interestingly, the KdV
equation admits rarefactive solitary structures, whereas the
MKdV equation allows the formation of compressive struc-
tures for the same parameter values. We choose m ¼ 1 to
compare the MkdV and Gardner compressive solitary struc-
tures. It is found that the amplitude of the Gardner soliton is
much greater than the MKdV soliton. Most importantly, the
FIG. 8. Soliton profiles for KdV, mKdV, and Gardner solitons. For KdV and
spatial scales over which the Gardner soliton forms are much mKdV solitons, the values of plasma parameters are chosen to be p ¼
longer than their MKdV counterparts. 0:68; r ¼ 0:4 and b ¼ 0:5, whereas the values of plasma parameters for
Gardner solitons are the same as shown for Fig. 2 for p ¼ 0.68.
IX. CONCLUSION
In this paper, using the small amplitude approximation PIE plasmas beyond KdV limit; however, no parametric
method, we have derived Gardner equation (which is accu- regime has been found for the slow mode for which the KdV
rate beyond the limit posed by the KdV equation) to study limit breaks down and hence no Gardner solutions exist for
one dimensional electrostatic solitary and kink structures in this mode. We have made the comparison of the solitary sol-
unmagnetized pair-ion-electron (PIE) plasma consisting of utions of KdV, MKdV, and Gardner solitons. It has been
positive and negative ions of equal mass but different tem- found that the KdV equation admits rarefactive solitary
peratures (Tþ 6¼ T ) and Boltzmann electrons. We have structures as opposed to the MKdV equation which allows
employed two different methods to find the solutions of the formation of compressive structures. It has also been
Gardner’s equation. In the first method, we have assumed an observed that Gardner solitons are formed on much longer
ansatz that the yielded solitary wave solution of Gardner spatial scales by comparison with the MKdV solitons. In
equation and in the other method, we have used the well regard to the Gardner equation, it has been found that the
known tanh method which has given kink solution of amplitude of solitary structures is greater than the kink struc-
Gardner’s equation. In the linear analysis, we have obtained tures both for compressive and rarefactive cases. Finally, it
a biquadratic dispersion relation for the system under consid- has been found that spatial structures over which the kink
eration. The backward propagating roots are neglected, structures form are much shorter by comparison with the sol-
whereas forward propagating roots of linear dispersion rela- itary structures of Gardner’s equation in PIE plasmas. The
tion have been presented here and have been termed as fast present study may be beneficial to understand the parametric
and slow modes. We have shown the existence of fast mode regime where the KdV limit breaks down in PIE plasmas
compressive and rarefactive Gardner solitons and kinks in and the need arises to explore nonlinear dynamical solutions
102304-9 Masood, Faryal, and Siddiq Phys. Plasmas 24, 102304 (2017)

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