Evolution of ion-acoustic solitary waves in an inhomogeneous discharge plasma

The physical processes in the generation of a solitary wave through a speci al nonlinear wave equation, called the Korteweg-deVries (K-dV) equation [D. J. Korteweg and G. deVries, Philos. Mag. 39, 422 (1895)], have been studie d in an ideal inhomogeneous plasma incorporating the electric field and low current discharges. It is concluded that the usual procedure, because of t he plasma inhomogeneity and ionization, is not suitable to exhibit soliton propagation unless an assumption for a mathematical simplification is made. Despite that, the soliton solution does not satisfactorily correspond to e xperiments. A new approach has been applied for finding the exact soliton p ropagation with a view to relating the observation to that expected exactly in an experiment. The results let one evaluate the formation of a tailing structure, which follows the main soliton with a growing nature as a functi on of the plasma configuration. Finally, the theoretical observations seem to significantly stimulate the observations in laboratory and space plasmas . (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(00)01009-0].