From: Frank.Meisschaert@rug.ac.be (Frank Meisschaert)
Newsgroups: sci.physics.plasma
Subject: Re: Solitrons -what are they?
Organization: University of Ghent, Belgium
References: <76togn$q0q$1@jupiter.cs.uml.edu>


Rog (rlm@ricochet.net) wrote:

: I'd like a down-to-earth explanation of what a solitron is, and how it
: may relate to plasma physics. How are they created, and how are they
: detected?
: --TIA, Rog

don't you mean solitons? A soliton is a localized (wave) pattern which
propagates without altering its shape. On a water surface: a single wave
which travels a long distance. In plasma physics they usually occure as
density waves. The creation of it is just like any other wave: a
disturbance. The key issue is that there is some non-linear action which
cancels dispersion of the wave-form. Detection is done as for an ordinary
wave, only one expects only one peek in stead of repeated peeks.

Frank Meisschaert