On The Solitary Vortex Solutions of Nonlinear Drift Wave Equations

Abstract

The Hasegawa-Mima equation for a quasi-two-dimensional electrostatic drift wave is generalized to include arbitrary distributions of the equilibrium electrostatic potential and the density and temperature of plasma. It is shown that the spatial dependence of the equilibrium density distribution plays a decisive role in determining the behavior of the steady vortex solution, that is, whether it is a single soliton or pair-solitons, etc. The relation between the drift wave equation and the barotropic equation for Rossby waves is discussed, and, in particular, a remark is made on Petviashvili's equation which has an additional nonliruear term proportional to the temperature gradient.