Kinetic treatment of nonlinear ion-acoustic waves in multi-ion plasma

By applying the kinetic theory of the Valsove-Poisson model and the reductive perturbation technique, a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation is derived for small but finite amplitude ion acoustic waves in multi-ion plasma composed of positive and negative ions along with the fraction of electrons. A correspondent equation is also derived from the basic set of fluid equations of adiabatic ions and isothermal electrons. Both kinetic and fluid KdV equations are stationary solved with different nature of coefficients. Their differences are discussed both analytically and numerically. The criteria of the fluid approach as a limiting case of kinetic theory are also discussed. The presence of negative ion makes some modification in the solitary structure that has also been discussed with its implication at the laboratory level. Published by AIP Publishing.