Abstract
Ion acoustic shock waves (IASWs) are studied in an unmagnetized quantum plasma consisting of electrons, positrons, and ions employing the quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) model. Nonlinear quantum IASWs are investigated by deriving the Korteweg-deVries-Burger equation under the small amplitude perturbation expansion method. The dissipation is introduced by taking into account the kinematic viscosity among the plasma constituents. It is found that the strength of the ion acoustic shock wave is maximum for spherical, intermediate for cylindrical, and minimum for planar geometry. The temporal evolution of the shock for a quantum e-p-i plasma in a spherical geometry is also investigated. It is found that the strength and the steepness of the quantum ion acoustic shock wave increases with decreasing stretched time coordinate (representing slow time scale) vertical bar tau vertical bar. It is also found that an increase in the quantum Bohm potential decreases the strength as well as the steepness of the shock. The temporal evolution of the quantum ion acoustic solitons in an e-p-i plasma for cylindrical and spherical geometries is also explored by substituting the dissipative coefficient C equal to zero. The relevance of the present study with regard to the dense astrophysical environments is also pointed out. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.