In one minute

Maxim Dvornikov studies whether stable axially and spherically symmetric plasma structures can exist, using a new nonlinear Schrödinger equation with nonlocal electron nonlinearities. Stable spatial solitons are an important problem in contemporary physics, and the new equation describes Langmuir waves with axial and spherical symmetry in warm plasma. He obtains numerical soliton solutions of the equation and analyses their stability. The model predicts low-energy plasma structures up to about 1.5 m across in thin, hot plasma with electron density near 10^5 cm^-3. Such densities occur in the Earth's ionosphere, and ordinary lightning can supply the heating. The results are applied to the theory of natural plasmoids in the atmosphere.

Axially and spherically symmetric solitons in warm plasma