Book Description

Space is endowed with a rich variety of electrodynamic phenomena. Much of known matter in the universe exists as plasmas. Plasmas occur naturally, predominantly occupy the Sun, Stars, Auroras and Interstellar space. The solar wind is a stream of energized, charged particles (i.e., electrons and protons, along with few heavier ions), flowing outward from the Sun, through the solar system at a very high speed and temperature. Once the solar wind has blown into space, the particles travel all the way past planet Pluto and do not slow down until they reach the termination shock within the hcliosphere. Because of the author's interest in space electrodynamics phenomena, the focus of this thesis is " Nonlinear low frequency wave phenomena in space plasmas". The fact that the space environment hosts nonlinear wave phenomena has attracted many researchers. Soliton formation and propagation is one of the most interesting nonlinear structures in space plasmas. S3-3, Viking, POLAR, FAST, FREJA, WIND, CLUSTER and GEOTAIL satellite observations have clearly indicated that solitary wave structures are frequently observed in different regions of the Earth's magnetosphere, e.g. the auroral acceleration region, the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL), the bow shock, the magnetopause and on cusp field lines, the Polar cap boundary layer, the auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) source region, the magnetosheath and Earth's forcshock region. Various theoretical models have been developed to describe the observed solitary wave structures at different regions of the Earth's magnetosphere. In this thesis, using multispecies fluid plasma models, nonlinear electrostatic solitary wave fluctuations will be investigated in magnetized plasmas. The different models used for the investigation will be guided by the satellite observations in different regions of the Earth magnetosphere.