Nonlinear dynamical behaviour of damped-drift Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation in ionospheric plasmas: from solitary waves to modulation

The nonlinear dynamics of damped-drift ion acoustic waves in collisional ionospheric plasma is explored by considering the effects of adiabatic trapping of electrons. The nonlinear propagation of these waves is described by the damped-drift Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation, which incorporates fractional nonlinearity. The damped solitary wave solution reveals significant variations across different parameter values of the D-, E-, and F-layers. The effects of an external periodic force are investigated to study the perturbed dynamics of the system by varying the frequency ω and amplitude of the force. It is found that the system remains quasiperiodic when the frequency ω of the external periodic force is either higher or lower than the natural frequency ωn of the system. The most significant finding is that the system generates modulated frequencies when the external periodic force frequency is near the natural frequency of the system, demonstrating the resonance effects causing the modulation. We also find that the modulation disappears if the collisions are neglected. This work enhances our understanding of wave phenomena in diverse plasma environments and provides insights into the complex interplay of nonlinearity, dispersion, inhomogeneity, and collisions.