Abstract
A theoretical investigation has been made for studying the propagation of ion-acoustic waves (IAWs) in a weakly inhomogeneous, collisionless, unmagnetized, three-component plasmas, whose constituents are inertial ions, nonthermal electrons, and Boltzmannian positrons. Employing reductive perturbation method (RPM), the variable coefficients Korteweg-de Varies equation (KdV) is derived. At the critical ion density, the KdV equation is not suitable for describing the system. Thus, a new set of stretched coordinates is considered to derive the modified variable coefficients KdV equation. Above (below) this critical point the system supports compressive (rarefactive) solitons. The effect of plasma parameters on the soliton profile has been considered. It has been shown that the width and the amplitude of the soliton affected by wave propagation speed, ratio of positron-to-electron density, and nonthermal parameter.