ION-ACOUSTIC SOLITONS IN A MAGNETIZED PLASMA WITH NONTHERMAL ELECTRONS

Obliquely propagating ion-acoustic solitons in a magnetized plasma con sisting of warm adiabatic ions and nonthermal electrons have been inve stigated. The reductive perturbation method has been employed to deriv e the Korteweg-de Vries equation which admits a solitary wave solution for small amplitude limit. The highly nonlinear situation has also be en studied by the numerical solution of the full nonlinear system of e quations. The presence of nonthermal electrons changes the nature of i on-acoustic solitons. in the small amplitude limit the soliton may cha nge from compressive to rarefactive, while the full nonlinear equation s may allow rarefactive and compressive solitary waves to coexist. The effects of external magnetic field, obliqueness and ion temperature o n the amplitude and width of the compressive and rarefactive solitons are discussed.