Head-on collision of two concentric cylindrical ion acoustic solitary waves

Abstract

The head-on collision of two concentric cylindrical, ion acoustic solitary waves traveling in opposite directions is considered by extending the Poincar\'e-Lighthill-Kuo method to the cylindrical geometry. The results show that the phase shifts of the solitary waves due to the collision are proportional to ${\mathit{r}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1/3}$ and depend on their initial positions, where r is the radius measured from the center of the disturbances. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.