Electrostatic wave breaking limit in a cold electronegative plasma with non-Maxwellian electrons

Abstract

A one-dimensional multifluid hydrodynamic model has been adopted as basis for an investigation of the role of suprathermal electrons on the wave breaking amplitude limit for electrostatic excitations propagating in an electronegative plasma. A three-component plasma is considered, consisting of two inertial cold ion populations of opposite signs, evolving against a uniform background of (non-Maxwellian) electrons. A kappa-type (non-Maxwellian) distribution function is adopted for the electrons. By employing a traveling wave approximation, the first integral for the fluid-dynamical system has been derived, in the form of a pseudo-energy balance equation, and analyzed. The effect of intrinsic plasma parameters (namely the ion density ratio, the ion mass ratio, and the superthermal index of the nonthermal electrons) on the wave breaking amplitude limit is explored, by analyzing the phase space topology of the associated pseudopotential function. Our results are relevant to particle acceleration in Space environments and to recent experiments based on plasma-based accelerator schemes, where the simultaneous presence of negative ions and nonthermal electrons may be observed.