An analysis of higher order terms for ion-acoustic waves by use of the modified Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo method (Q308323)

Nonlinear ion-acoustic waves are investigated in a one-dimensional collisionless cold plasma. The interaction among the charged particles is described by the electrostatic potential (the Poisson equation). The long wave approximation is used and the problem is analyzed by means of the so-called PLK (Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo) method -- with a certain modification. The strained coordinate is introduced which contains two unknown parameters, one is a smallness parameter which characterizes the order of nonlinearity, the other is simply an unknown function. Both of them are to be determined by successive approximation. When looking for the field equation, one arrives at a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation for the electric potential. This can be solved by successive approximation. Looking for the progressive wave solution, a sequence of speed correction terms is determined, after removing the possible secularities. The author claims that the result obtained by this procedure is exactly the same as the one determined by a modified reductive potential [the author, J. Phys. Soc. Japan 68, No. 6, 1833--1837 (1999; Zbl 0977.82042)] or by a renormalization method [\textit{Y. Kodama} and \textit{T. Taniuti}, J. Phys. Soc. Japan 45, No. 1, 298--310 (1978; Zbl 1334.76103)].