VLASOV SIMULATIONS OF STRONGLY NONLINEAR ELECTROSTATIC OSCILLATIONS IN A ONE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRON-ION PLASMA

The problem of the microscopic plasma response to the excitation of la rge amplitude electrostatic perturbations in a two-component plasma is studied by means of the numerical integration of the Vlasov-Maxwell s ystem. The decaying of an initial electron density perturbation as wel l as the plasma response to an externally applied oscillating electric field are considered for times much longer than the typical ion-plasm a times. The interconnections between the microscopic particle dynamic s and the macroscopic plasma density and temperature evolutions are in vestigated. [S1063-651X(98)02811-6].