Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution function for space plasma species

A. A. Abid, S. Ali, J. Du, and A. A. Mamun

Citation: Physics of Plasmas 22, 084507 (2015); doi: 10.1063/1.4928886

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 PHYSICS OF PLASMAS 22, 084507 (2015)

Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution function for space plasma species

A. A. Abid,1,2 S. Ali,2 J. Du,3 and A. A. Mamun4,a)
1
Department of Applied Physics, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology,
Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
2
National Center for Physics at QAU Campus, Shahdra Valley Road, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
3
Department of Physics, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tiajin-300072, China
4
Theoretische Physik IV: Weltraum- und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universit€ at Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
(Received 25 April 2015; accepted 2 August 2015; published online 21 August 2015)
A more generalized form of non-Maxwellian distribution function (that can be named as
Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution function) is introduced. Its basic properties are numerically ana-
lyzed by the variation of two important parameters, namely, a (which shows the amount of ener-
getic particles present in the plasma system) and j (which shows the superthermality of the plasma
species). It has been observed that (i) for a ! 0 (j ! 1), the Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution
function reduces to the Vasyliunas or j (Cairns or nonthermal) distribution function; (ii) for a ! 0
and j ! 1, it reduces to the Maxwellian distribution function; and (iii) the effect of the parameter
a (j) significantly modifies the basic properties of the Vasyliunas (Cairns) distribution function.
The applications of this generalized non-Maxwellian distribution function (Vasyliunas–Cairns
distribution function) in different space plasma situations are briefly discussed. V C 2015

AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4928886]

The plasma particles (viz., electrons, positrons, ions, where j is the spectral index indicating the superthermality
etc., that constitute a space plasma system) interact or collide effects of the plasma species, j1 ¼ j  3=2; bj ¼ Cð1 þ jÞ=
constantly with one another, and move with various veloc- Cðj  1=2Þ, and the symbol C denotes the gamma function.
ities. So due to these collisions, these particles may exchange We note that the Vasyliunas distribution function [defined
their momentum and kinetic energy to attain the thermal by Eq. (2)] reduces to a Maxwellian distribution [defined by
equilibrium. The most common distribution function (known Eq. (1)] for j ! 1.
as Maxwellian distribution function1) of these plasma par- On the other hand, about 20 years ago (in 1995), moti-
ticles depends on the their velocities. The Maxwellian distri- vated by the observations of cavitons (rarefaction of ion
bution function is given by2 number density) with the help of Freja satellite (FS)7 and
! Viking spacecraft (VS),8 Cairns et al.4 introduced another
M nj0 v2j type of nonthermal distribution function (now known as
fj ðvj Þ ¼ 3 exp  2 ; (1)
ð2pÞ2 v3 2vtj Cairns distribution function) for electron species to show the
tj
existence of the cavitons observed by FS7 and VS.8 The
where vj ðnj0 Þ is the speed (number density) of the plasma Cairns distribution function is given by4
species j (j ¼ e stands for electrons, j ¼ p stands for positrons, ! !
j ¼ i stands for ions, etc.); vtj ¼ ðTj =mj Þ1=2 is the thermal nj0 v4j v2j
fjC ðvj Þ ¼ 1þa exp  ; (3)
speed of the jth species with Tj being the temperature in units 3
v4tj 2v2tj
a1 ð2pÞ2 v3tj
of energy, and mj being the mass. This type of distribution
function is only applicable to a plasma system, where the
where a indicates the amount of high energetic plasma spe-
plasma species are in thermal equilibrium.
cies in the system under consideration, and a1 ¼ 1 þ 3a. It
There are many space plasma systems, where plasma
should be noted here that the Cairns distribution function
species are not in thermal equilibrium.3–6 On the basis of this
[defined by Eq. (3)] reduces to a Maxwellian one [defined by
point, about 47 years ago (in 1968), Vasyliunas3 examined
the energy spectra of electrons within the plasma sheet, and Eq. (1)] for a ! 0.
introduced an empirical function to model the velocity distri- We, up to now, briefly discussed two types of non-
bution of high energy electrons. This velocity distribution is Maxwellian distribution functions, namely, Vasyliunas distri-
not Maxwellian, but follows a non-Maxwellian distribution bution function [defined by Eq. (2)] and Cairns distribution
(known as j or Vasyliunas distribution3) function [defined by Eq. (3)] that reduce to Maxwellian distri-
bution function for j ! 1 and a ! 0, respectively.
!ð1þjÞ However, there are many space plasma linear and nonlinear
nj0 bj v2j
fjV ðvj Þ ¼ 1þ ; (2) phenomena3–6 which are not precisely explained by these two
3 3
ð2pÞ2 j21 v3tj 2j1 v2tj types of non-Maxwellian distribution function. Therefore, in
this Brief Communication, we attempt to introduce a more
a)
Permanent address: Department of Physics, Jahangirnagar University, general form of non-Maxwellian distribution function which
Savar, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh. has been introduced by the product of Vasyliunas distribution

1070-664X/2015/22(8)/084507/3/$30.00 22, 084507-1 C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC

V

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 084507-2 Abid et al. Phys. Plasmas 22, 084507 (2015)

function [defined by Eq. (2)] and Cairns distribution function

[defined by Eq. (3)]. This is the more generalized (new) dis-
tribution function or Vasyliunas–Cairns (VC) distribution
function. The latter (VC distribution function) for the plasma
species j may be introduced as
! !ð1þjÞ
nj0 bj v4j v2j
fjVC ðvj Þ ¼ 3 1þa 1þ : (4)
3
ð2pÞ2 a1 j21 v3tj v4tj 2j1 v2tj

We note that the Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution [defined by

Eq. (4)] involves the indices a and j. The new distribution
function must satisfy j > 3=2 and a < 1. It is important to
mention here that the Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution func- FIG. 2. The normalized Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution curves for j ¼ 50,
tion [defined by Eq. (4)] reduces to (i) the Vasyliunas distri- a ¼ 0 (solid blue curve), a ¼ 0:2 (dotted black curve), and a ¼ 0:4 (dashed
bution function3 for a ¼ 0, (ii) the Cairns distribution red curve).
function4 for j ! 1, and (iii) the Maxwellian distribution
function [defined by Eq. (1)] for a ¼ 0 and j ! 1. observed that if we increase a, particularly from 0 to 0.4, sig-
We now numerically analyze Vasyliunas–Cairns distri- nificant (insignificant) effect is observed in the shoulder (tail)
bution function [defined by Eq. (4)] for different values of a of the distribution curve. We see that for a ¼ 0 and for a large
(viz., a ¼ 0, a ¼ 0:2, a ¼ 0:3; a ¼ 0:4; a ¼ 0:6, and a ¼ 0:9) value of j; viz., j ¼ 50, the Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution
and different values of j (viz., j ¼ 3:0; j ¼ 3:6; j ¼ 7:0, function reduces to the Maxwellian one.2 The influence of j
and j ¼ 50:0). The numerical results are displayed in Figures in Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution is shown in Figure 3. It is
1–3. It is observed from Figures 1 and 2 that the nature of the observed that the influence of spectral index j is significant
Vasyliunas–Cairns or Vasyliunas distribution function is sig- (insignificant) in the tail (shoulder) of the distribution curves.
nificantly modified by the variation of the nonthermal param- It may be noted here that for large value of j, viz., j ¼ 50,
eter a. On the other hand, it is obvious from Figure 3 that the the Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution curves are similar to
behavior of Vasyliunas–Cairns or Cairns distribution function Cairns distribution curves.4 We have also compared the ve-
is significantly modified by the variation of the value of the locity distribution curves obtained from our generalized dis-
spectral index j. We can express in other words that the tribution function [given by Eq. (4)] with those obtained from
Maxwellian distribution function2 is drastically modified by other three velocity distribution functions [given by Eqs. (1),
the combined effects of the nonthermal parameter a and spec- (2), and (3)]. The results are displayed in Figure 4. The veloc-
tral index j. These are clearly observed in Figures 1–3. The ity distribution curves obtained from Eq. (4) are shown in
Vasyliunas–Cairns velocity distribution curves in Figure 1 Figure 4(a), where the solid blue curve (a ¼ 0 and j ¼ 1)
indicate that as we increase a (particularly, from 0.3 to 0.9), represents the Maxwellian distribution,2 the dotted black
very strong modification in shoulders, but insignificant modi- curve (a ¼ 0 and j ¼ 3) represents the Vasyliunas distribu-
fication in the tail, is observed. This is in a good agreement tion,3 and the dashed red curve (a ¼ 0:2 and j ¼ 1) repre-
with Cairns–Tsallis distribution curves9 which are for q ¼ 0.8 sents the Cairns distribution.4 On the other hand, the velocity
(where q is the nonextensive parameter in Tsallis distribution distribution curves obtained from Eqs. (1), (2), and (3) are
function) and different value of a. On the other hand, these displayed in Figure 4(b). The curves shown in Figure 4(a) for
distribution curves for a large value of j (viz., j ¼ 50Þ shown three different special cases are found to be identical to those
in Figure 2 are in good agreement with Cairns–Tsallis distri- shown in Figure 4(b).
bution curves9 for q ¼ 1 and different values of a. It is

FIG. 1. The normalized Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution curves for j ¼ 3, FIG. 3. The normalized Vasyliunas–Cairns distribution curves for a ¼
a ¼ 0:3 (solid blue curve), a ¼ 0:6 (dotted black curve), and a ¼ 0:9 0:2; j ¼ 3:6 (solid blue curve), j ¼ 7:0 (dotted black curve), and j ¼ 50
(dashed red curve). (dashed red curve).

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 084507-3 Abid et al. Phys. Plasmas 22, 084507 (2015)

distributions of plasma particles at low energies show up

Maxwellian. But at high energies, they10 show up superther-
mal power-law tails. Recently, Cairns, Vasyliunas, and
Vasyliunas like power-law distribution functions have been
used to explain many linear and nonlinear phenomena in dif-
ferent space and astrophysical plasmas.11–24
There are many linear and nonlinear phenomena
observed in space plasma3–6 that cannot be exactly explained
by Vasyliunas or Cairns distribution of plasma particles.
Thus, one must search for a more generalized distribution
function to explain such space plasma phenomena. We hope
that the distribution function developed here will be able to
help us to explain such observed space plasma phenomena
more precisely.

S. Ali acknowledges the support from the Abdus Salam

International Centre for Theoretical Physics (AS-ICTP) for
his visit through the Regular Associateship Scheme. A. A.
Mamun is grateful to Professor R. Schlickeiser and
Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Bonn) for inviting him to
visit the Ruhr-Universit€at Bochum in the category of
Alexander von Humboldt Bessel Research Awardee.
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