Open AccessBernstein‐Greene‐Kruskal analysis of electrostatic solitary waves observed with Geotail
Author(s) -
Krasovsky V. L.,
Matsumoto H.,
Omura Y.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/97ja02033
Subject(s) - physics , perturbation (astronomy) , amplitude , electron , plasma , computational physics , dispersion relation , nonlinear system , spectral line , pulse (music) , quantum electrodynamics , atomic physics , quantum mechanics , voltage
Electrostatic solitary waves (ESW) relevant to the high‐frequency component of broadband electrostatic noise spectra observed by Geotail spacecraft in the magnetotail are analyzed. A general description of the ESW, as stationary solutions of Vlasov‐Poisson equations, is developed on the basis of the Bernstein‐Greene‐Kruskal (BGK) technique. It is shown that the structure and relationships among basic parameters of a localized perturbation are primarily determined by resonant and nonresonant plasma screenings of bunched electrons trapped by a potential pulse moving in a plasma. The dependence of the typical width of the pulse on its drift velocity and pulse amplitude is found, which can be treated as a nonlinear dispersion relation for the localized perturbation. The theoretical results are compared with the Geotail data and a particle simulation.