Time-fractional Gardner equation for ion-acoustic waves in negative-ion-beam plasma with negative ions and nonthermal nonextensive electrons

Nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves is investigated in a one-dimensional, unmagnetized plasma consisting of positive ions, negative ions, and nonthermal electrons featuring Tsallis distribution that is penetrated by a negative-ion-beam. The classical Gardner equation is derived to describe nonlinear behavior of ion-acoustic waves in the considered plasma system via reductive perturbation technique. We convert the classical Gardner equation into the time-fractional Gardner equation by Agrawal's method, where the time-fractional term is under the sense of Riesz fractional derivative. Employing variational iteration method, we construct solitary wave solutions of the time-fractional Gardner equation with initial condition which depends on the nonlinear and dispersion coefficients. The effect of the plasma parameters on the compressive and rarefactive ion-acoustic solitary waves is also discussed in detail. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.