Small amplitude dust ion-acoustic solitary waves and double layers in a dusty plasma with flat-topped electron distribution

The properties of small but finite amplitude dust ion-acoustic (DIA) solitary waves (SWs) as well double layers (DLs) in a dusty plasma containing warm adiabatic ions, electrons following flat-topped velocity distribution, and arbitrarily (positively or negatively) charged immobile dust are studied. The effects of ion-temperature, resonant electrons, and dust number density are found to significantly modify the criteria for the existence of the DIA SWs and DLs, as well as significantly modify their basic features. It is also shown that the ion-temperature reduces the possibility for the formation of these localized structures, and that their amplitude decreases (increases) with the increase in the negative (positive) dust number density. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3526649]