Abstract
In the present investigation, linear and nonlinear propagation of low frequency (omega << Omega(ci)) electrostatic waves have been studied in a spatially inhomogeneous degenerate plasma with one dimensional electron trapping in the presence of a quantizing magnetic field and finite temperature effects. Using the drift approximation, formation of 1 and 2D drift ion solitary structures have been studied both for fully and partially degenerate plasmas. The theoretical results obtained have been analyzed numerically for the parameters typically found in white dwarfs for illustrative purpose. It is observed that the inclusion of Landau quantization significantly changes the expression of the electron number density of a dense degenerate plasma which affects the linear and nonlinear propagation of drift acoustic solitary waves in such a system. The present work may be beneficial to understand the propagation of drift solitary structures with weak transverse perturbation in a variety of physical situations, such as white dwarfs and laser-induced plasmas, where the quantum effects are expected to dominate. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.