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Stability of electron wave spectra in weakly magnetized plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2017

M. Kono
Affiliation:
Chuo University, Faculty of Policy Studies, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0393, Japan
H. L. Pécseli*
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Department of Physics, Box 1048 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway
*
Email address for correspondence: hans.pecseli@fys.uio.no

Abstract

Analytical models for nonlinear electron plasma waves in weakly magnetized plasmas are developed for single as well as multi-mode conditions, with continuous wave spectra being a limiting case. The conditions for wave decay as well as modulational instabilities are analysed. Our results demonstrate that slow or nearly stationary plasma density variations can be found for weakly magnetized plasmas even for weakly nonlinear electron plasma waves without involving cavitation of large amplitude plasma waves. A reduction of the growth rates for decay as well as modulational instabilities are found when the spectral width of the wave spectrum is increased. Some of our results are relevant for the interpretation of the nonlinearly enhanced ion acoustic lines often observed in non-equilibrium ionospheres.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

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