Ion acoustic solitons in a weakly relativistic magnetized warm plasma

The oblique propagation of nonlinear ion acoustic solitary waves (solitons) in a magnetized low-β, weakly relativistic warm plasma is examined by the Korteweg–de Vries equation. Two types of modes (fast and slow ion acoustic modes) exist in the plasma. The fast mode corresponds to the propagation of compressive solitons, whereas the rarefactive solitons exist for the slow mode. The amplitude and energy of both types of solitons increase with the angle between the wave vector and magnetic field and also with the relativistic ion drift velocity. The effect of finite ion temperature is to decrease the amplitude of the soliton and to increase its width. The strength of the magnetic field weakens the soliton energy and the width becomes smaller. © 1996 The American Physical Society.