A rigorous theoretical investigation has been made on the formation of the nonlinear structures (viz., solitary waves, double layers) in a dusty electron-positron-ion plasma (containing inertialess degenerate electrons and positrons, cold, mobile, inertial ions, and negatively charged stationary dust). The pseudo potential method has been employed in this theoretical investigation. The basic features of the solitary waves and double layers, which are associated with positive ion dynamics and pressures of degenerate electrons and positrons, are identified. The co-existence of positive and negative solitary waves, and existence of either positive or negative double layers have been theoretically observed for certain range of different plasma parameters. The implications of our results in astrophysical compact objects have been briefly discussed.

Context. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) measures solar wind protons and electrons near the Sun. To study the thermodynamic properties of electrons and protons, we include electron effects, such as distributed turbulent heating between protons and electrons, Coulomb collisions between protons and electrons, and heat conduction of electrons. Aims. We develop a general theoretical model of nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (NI MHD) turbulence coupled with a solar wind model that includes electron pressure and heat flux. Methods. It is important to note that 60% of the turbulence energy is assigned to proton heating and 40% to electron heating. We use an empirical expression for the electron heat flux. We derived a nonlinear dissipation term for the residual energy that includes both the Alfvén effect and the turbulent small-scale dynamo effect. Similarly, we obtained the NI/slab time-scale in an NI MHD phenomenology to use in the derivation of the nonlinear term that incorporates the Alfvén effect. Results. A detailed comparison between the theoretical model solutions and the fast solar wind measured by PSP and Helios 2 shows that they are consistent. The results show that the nearly incompressible NI/slab turbulence component describes observations of the fast solar wind periods when the solar wind flow is aligned or antialigned with the magnetic field.

An analytic, self‐consistent, theoretical model for the solar wind is developed that generalizes previous models to include all of the following: conservation of angular momentum, frozen‐in magnetic fields, both radial (r) and azimuthal (ϕ) components of the magnetic field (Br and Bϕ) and velocity (vr and vϕ) from the inner boundary rs to 1 AU, and the detailed tracing back of observations at 1 AU to the inner boundary and all intervening (r,ϕ). The new model applies near the solar equatorial plane, assumes constant radial wind speed at each heliolongitude, and enforces corotation at the inner boundary. It is shown that the new theoretical model can be reduced to the previous models in the appropriate limits. We apply the model to two solar rotations of Wind spacecraft data, one near solar minimum (1–27 August 2010) and one near solar maximum (1–27 July 2002). The model analytically predicts the Alfvénic critical radius ra from the radial Alfvénic Mach number observed at 1 AU. Typically, the values are less than 15 solar radii, in agreement with some recent observations, and vary with longitude. Values of vϕ(r,ϕ) are predicted from the model, being always in the sense of corotation but varying in magnitude with r and ϕ. Reasonable and self‐consistent results are found for Br(r,ϕ), Bϕ(r,ϕ), vϕ(r,ϕ), and n(r,ϕ) from rs to 1 AU. Both the azimuthal and radial magnetic fields at rs vary with time by more than an order of magnitude and usually |Br(rs,ϕs)|≥|Bϕ(rs,ϕs)|. Typically, though not always, magnetic contributions to the total angular momentum are small. Interestingly, however, the azimuthal flow velocities observed at 1 AU are not always in the corotation direction and usually have much larger magnitudes than predicted by the model. Conservation of angular momentum alone cannot explain these azimuthal velocities and the standard interpretation involving stream‐stream interactions and dynamical behavior seems reasonable. Issues regarding the model's applicability appear to be due to the assumptions of corotation and constant wind speed breaking down below the Alfvén critical radius.

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A theoretical investigation has been made of propagating electrostatic waves in a four-component adiabatic dusty plasma, whose constituents are adiabatic electrons, adiabatic ions, adiabatic positively and as well as negatively charged warm dust. The basic features of the solitary structures in such a four-component adiabatic dusty plasma are studied by the reductive perturbation method. It is found that the presence of the positive dust component does not only significantly modify the basic properties of the solitary waves, but also causes the existence of the positive solitary potential structures, which is an interesting feature shown in an adiabatic dusty plasma with the dust of opposite polarity. It is also observed that the basic properties (polarity, speed, amplitude and width) of the DA SWs are significantly modified by the effects of adiabaticity (γ > 1) of electrons, ions, negatively as well as positively charged warm dust. The present investigation can be of relevance to the electrostatic solitary structures observed in various dusty space plasma environments (viz. cometary tails, upper mesosphere, Jupiter's magnetosphere, etc.).