Chapter Eleven: Nonlinear Topics

While linear physics may provide a quick glimpse at the plasma topics of interest, more often than not, it is insufficient to explain away the natural phenomena. Nonlinear physics will ultimately reflect the truth since any deviation from the linear relationship would naturally be nonlinear. The complication arises as many competing terms might contribute. A consistent ordering is the rule of thumb to make sure the dominant effects are properly taken into consideration. Dimensionless variables will value themselves on an equal footing to their importance in the underlying principles even if they are of different physical entities, as discussed in the first Chapter. Beyond the inclusion of important terms, the well posed nonlinear equations can be tricky to solve. Arguments as supported by numerical, experimental, analytical and physical interpretations will be helpful to lead to the correct answers…