Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2015
A forced and damped Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation for a magnetized electron–positron–ion plasma affected by an external force is studied in this paper. Via the Hirota method, the soliton-like solutions are given. The soliton’s amplitude gets enhanced with the phase velocity ${\it\lambda}$ decreasing or ion-to-electron density ratio ${\it\beta}$ increasing. With the damped coefficient increasing, when the external force $g(t)$ is periodic, the two solitons are always parallel during the propagation and background of the two solitons drops on the $x{-}y$ plane, and amplitudes of the two solitons increase on the $x{-}t$ and $y{-}t$ planes, with $(x,y)$ as the coordinates of the propagation plane and $t$ as the time. When $g(t)$ is exponentially decreasing, the two solitons merge into a single one and the background rises on the $x{-}y$ plane, and amplitudes of the two solitons decrease on the $x{-}t$ and $y{-}t$ planes. Further, associated chaotic motions are obtained when $g(t)$ is periodic. Using the phase projections and Poincaré sections, we find that the chaotic motions can be weakened with ${\it\alpha}_{1}$ , the amplitude of $g(t)$ , decreasing. With ${\it\alpha}_{2}$ , the frequency of $g(t)$ , decreasing, a three-dimensional attractor with stretching-and-folding structure is found, indicating that the weak chaos is transformed into the developed chaos. Chaotic motions can also be weakened with ${\it\lambda}$ , the phase velocity, decreasing, but strengthened with ${\it\beta}$ , the ion-to-electron density ratio, and ${\it\alpha}_{2}$ decreasing.