Diagnostic of Langmuir Solitons in Plasmas Using Hydrogenic Spectral Lines

The development of various spectroscopic diagnostics of relatively weak Langmuir waves in plasmas and their successful implementation have a history of over 50 years. As for spectroscopic diagnostics of Langmuir solitons (i.e., relatively strong Langmuir waves) in plasmas, there have only been very few theoretical papers. The most promising result so far was based on using satellites of the dipole-forbidden spectral lines of He, Li, or He-like and Li-like ions. It was shown that, in the case of Langmuir solitons, the peak intensity of the satellites of the dipole-forbidden lines can be significantly enhanced—by orders of magnitude—compared to the case of non-solitonic Langmuir waves. This distinctive feature of satellites under Langmuir solitons allows them to be distinguished from non-solitonic Langmuir waves. In the present paper, we perform a general study of the effects of Langmuir solitons on arbitrary spectral lines of hydrogen or hydrogen-like ions. Then, using the Ly-beta line as an example, we compare the main features of the profiles for the case of the Langmuir solitons with the case of the non-solitonic Langmuir waves of the same amplitude. We also show how the line profiles depend on the amplitude of the Langmuir solitons and on their separation from each other within the sequence of the solitons.

Stable Langmuir solitons in plasma with diatomic ions

We study stable axially and spherically symmetric spatial solitons in plasma with diatomic ions. The stability of a soliton against collapse is provided by the interaction of induced electric dipole moments of ions with the rapidly oscillating electric field of a plasmoid. We derive the new cubic-quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which governs the soliton dynamics and numerically solve it. Then we discuss the possibility of implementation of such plasmoids in realistic atmospheric plasma. In particular, we suggest that spherically symmetric Langmuir solitons, described in the present work, can be excited at the formation stage of long-lived atmospheric plasma structures. The implication of our model for the interpretation of the results of experiments for the plasmoids generation is discussed.

Arbitrary amplitude Langmuir solitons in a relativistic electron–positron plasma

The arbitrary amplitude Langmuir solitons are investigated in an unmagnetized, warm, relativistic plasma, consisting of electrons and positrons. Both the species are considered to have equal non-relativistic temperatures, but can have arbitrary relativistic drift speeds, and their dynamics are governed by fluid equations. Using the Sagdeev psuedo-potential approach, the effects of drift speed, Mach number, and thermal temperature on the amplitude and width of the Langmuir solitons are investigated. For the parameters considered, only rarefactive solitons are found. These solitons represent dip in electron density or electron holes in the configuration space. Existence domain of the Langmuir solitons is limited by the minimum and maximum Mach numbers for given parameters. An increase in the electron (positron) temperature leads to an increase in the Langmuir soliton amplitude and their half-widths. On the other hand, increasing the electron (positron) drift speeds results in decreasing soliton amplitudes and their half-widths. For some typical parameters corresponding to the pulsar magnetosphere, namely electron density ~106 cm−3 and electron thermal velocity of one-tenth of the velocity of light, the electric field of the Langmuir solitons can be of the order of (3–24)kV/m. The presence of such large amplitude electrostatic solitary structures may accelerate electrons and positrons and also produce fine structures of (1–5) microseconds in pulsar radio emissions.