Observation of Self-Trapping Instability of a Plasma Cyclotron Wave in a Computer Experiment

Abstract

The exact behavior of a modulated cyclotron wave in a plasma is traced in a numerical model to study the self-trapping instability represented by the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with an attractive potential. The instability is found to be explosive in that the wave collapses at a much faster rate than the prediction of the perturbation solution.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1103/physrevlett.24.1165

Citations and references