Formation of electrostatic solitary and periodic waves in dusty plasmas in the light of Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and Freja satellite observations

Abstract

Motivated by the observations of Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and Freja satellite observations in Saturn’s magnetosphere, the formation of dust-acoustic (DA) localized and periodic waves in a complex plasma having superthermal electrons and ions are reported. In this regard, a modified Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (mKP) equation is derived by employing the weak turbulence theory for studying the characteristics of the nonlinear dust-acoustic waves (DAWs) in the model under consideration. The localized and periodic wave solutions to the mKP equation are derived using ansatz method in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions (JEFs). It is reported that the phase velocity of the DAWs in the Saturn’s magnetosphere is lower for kappa distributed ions and electrons by comparison with regions of space plasmas where the electrons and ions follow the Maxwellian distribution. The conditions for the existence of both localized and periodic waves are also presented. Estimates are also given of the spatial scales over which the dust-acoustic solitary/periodic structures form in Saturn’s magnetosphere.