Simulations of the nonlinear stage of Farley-Buneman instability with allowance for electron thermal effects

The Farley-Buneman instability is a two-stream instability observed in the weakly ionized plasma of the E region of the Earth's ionosphere. In the present paper, the effect of nonisothermal behavior of electrons on the development of this instability is investigated by numerical simulations. The instability is described using fluid equations for the electron density and temperature, a kinetic equation for ions, and Poisson's equation. In contrast to most previous studies, the simulations are performed by numerically solving partial differential equations, rather than by the particle method. With allowance for thermal effects, the simulation results become more realistic, because the amplitudes of the perturbed electric field and plasma oscillations decrease and the instability develops over a longer time. It is shown that the influence of electron thermal effects is more pronounced at low values of the external electric field.