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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Langmuir turbulence plays an important role in electron heating and generation of plasma emission in accretion disks of active galactic nuclei. The nonlinear dynamical behavior of Langmuir turbulence and its relevance in the interpretation of AGN variability is discussed. In particular, we study nonlinear saturation of the Langmuir stimulated modulational instability, for which the low-frequency mode is a resonant ion-acoustic wave. The nonlinear system of coupled wave equations is shown to undergo transition from order to chaos via the route of quasiperiodicity. The periodic, quasiperiodic and chaotic variabilities in AGN emissions may be the electromagnetic signatures of the ordered and chaotic states of Langmuir turbulence in accretion disks or jets of AGN.