Study of trapped particle nonlinearity in Ion Acoustic solitary wave using Vlasov simulation

Collective processes in a system of many interacting particles like plasma involves solving the kinetic Vlasov equation in a multiple species phase-space. One of the challenges in simulation of trapped particle equilibrium in collision-less plasmas is simultaneous resolution of multiple time scales for the evolution of the species distribution functions ( f ). The high resolution Vlasov simulation developed to perform such analysis resolves the trapped particle populations that are unaccounted for in the linear dispersion analysis of the plasmas. The parallel version of the flux balance Vlasov simulation code is implemented using a combination of MPI and open-MP computation technique. The simulations shed light on the nonlinear effects in regime of small amplitude limit that produce coherent structures known as Solitary electron holes (SEH). The SEH develop in ion acoustic wave (IAW) branch of plasma wave in presence of electron current and are analyzed to show their distinct behavior in the kinetic, particle trapping regime. (paper)