Head-on collision of dust acoustic solitary waves in a four-component dusty plasma with nonthermal ions

Abstract

The head-on collision of dust acoustic solitary waves in a four-component unmagnetized dusty plasma with Boltzmann distributed electrons, nonthermal ions, and negatively charged dust grains as well as positively charged dust grains is investigated using the extended Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo method. The effects of the ratio of electron temperature to ion temperature and the ratio of the positively charged dust grains mass to the negatively charged dust grains mass on the phase shift are studied. It is found that the presence of nonthermal ions plays a significant role on the collision of dust acoustic solitary waves. This study would be useful for investigations of plasma behavior in different regions of space, viz., cometary tails, upper and lower mesosphere, Jupiter’s magnetosphere, etc.