Abstract:
The head-on collision of multiple counter-propagating coherent phase space structures associated
with the ion acoustic solitary waves (IASWs) in plasmas composed of hot electrons and cold ions
is studied here by using one-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulation. The chains of counterpropagating
IASWs are generated in the plasma by injecting the Gaussian perturbations in the equilibrium
electron and ion densities. The head-on collisions of the counter-propagating electron and
ion phase space structures associated with IASWs are allowed by considering the periodic boundary
condition in the simulation. Our simulation shows that the phase space structures are less significantly
affected by their collision with each other. They emerge out from each other by retaining
their characteristics, so that they follow soliton type behavior. We also find that the electrons
trapped within these IASW potentials are accelerated, while the ions are decelerated during the
course of their collisions.
