EFFECTS OF BOUNDARY AND ELECTRON INERTIA ON THE ION-ACOUSTIC-WAVE IN A PLASMA - A PSEUDOPOTENTIAL APPROACH

A pseudopotential approach is used to analyse the propagation of ion-a coustic waves in a plasma bounded by a cylindrical domain. The effect of the finite geometry is displayed both analytically and numerically. The phase velocity of the wave is determined and its variation is stu died with respect to the plasma parameters. It is observed that the ps eudopotential shows a wide variation of shape due to the imposition of a finite boundary condition. It is shown that if the other parameters are kept within a certain range of values, then the trapping of parti cles is favoured when the presence of the boundary is taken into accou nt.