×

Instabilities and formation of coherent structures. (English) Zbl 1043.76507

Summary: This tutorial paper is devoted to theoretical aspects of the coherent electrostatic structures that have been encountered in various space plasmas. These structures, called solitary waves, electrostatic shocks or double layers have been observed in the solar wind, the Earth bow shock, the auroral zones and the magnetotail. Most of these structures can be interpreted in terms of electron or ion phase space holes. Their 1D structure, their emergence from plasma instabilities, their mutual interactions, their bidimensional stability, and their ability to create large scale electric fields are discussed in this paper.

MSC:

76E20 Stability and instability of geophysical and astrophysical flows
76X05 Ionized gas flow in electromagnetic fields; plasmic flow
85A30 Hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic problems in astronomy and astrophysics
76-01 Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to fluid mechanics
PDFBibTeX XMLCite
Full Text: DOI