Fore-wake excitations from moving charged objects in a complex plasma

Abstract

A charged object moving at a supersonic speed in a plasma creates the familiar Mach cone structure in its wake but can also give rise to nonlinear wave excitations ahead of it. Using molecular dynamic simulations, we explore such fore-wake excitations in a strongly coupled dusty plasma and demonstrate the existence of precursor solitonic pulses and dispersive shock waves in that region. The excitation conditions as well as the propagation characteristics of such pulses are delineated as a function of the projectile velocity, the plasma density, the Coulomb coupling parameter, and the amount of charge on the projectile. Our simulation results provide a kinetic basis for earlier fluid model calculations and also give insights into the dynamical processes responsible for such excitations that can aid in future experimental and application oriented studies.

Effect of size and shape of a moving charged object on the propagation characteristics of precursor solitons

“…These first ever observations of precursor solitons in a plasma have been well characterized by detailed experimental measurements of their propagation features and qualitative comparisons with results from theoretical models. The existence of such precursor excitations have also been confirmed from full scale fluid simulations 30 as well as molecular dynamic simulations 31 .…”

Accelerated magnetosonic lump wave solutions by orbiting charged space debris

“…The pioneering work of Sen et al [5] proposes a new detection technique of charged debris objects in the LEO plasma region through observation of precursor solitons. In their subsequent works [11][12][13], the numerical solutions for nonlinear ion acoustic waves due to a moving charged source, the molecular dynamic simulations for a charged object moving in a strongly coupled dusty plasma to explore the existence of precursor solitonic pulses and dispersive shock waves has been discussed. Also, the experimental observation of precursor solitons in a flowing dusty plasma are analyzed.…”

Molecular dynamics investigation of soliton propagation in a two‐dimensional Yukawa liquid

“…In case of an appreciable interaction between the particles and the embedding gaseous system, the Langevin simulation approach [38] can be adopted. Recent molecular dynamics simulations have shown the presence of solitary waves and their compatibility with the predictions of the KdV equation [39,40], the possibility of excitation of solitons with moving charged objects [41], and the presence of rarefactive solitons [42].…”