Localized kinetic structures in magnetized plasmas

We present a kinetic description of localized potential structures in a magnetized plasma. It is shown that the Vlasov equation admits solutions in the form of non-Maxwellian particle distributions. The general form of these particle distributions is derived, and some special solutions are employed into Poisson's equation to obtain numerical solutions comprising localized potential humps and electron and ion density holes. The relevance of our investigation to magnetized space and laboratory plasmas is discussed.