  We study the evolution of nonlinear ion acoustic wave excitations due to a
moving charged source in a plasma. Our numerical investigations of the full set
of cold fluid equations goes beyond the usual weak nonlinearity approximation
and shows the existence of a rich variety of solutions including wakes,
precursor solitons and pinned solitons that travel with the source velocity.
These solutions represent a large amplitude generalization of solutions
obtained in the past for the forced Korteweg deVries equation and can find
useful applications in a variety of situations in the laboratory and in space
wherever there is a large relative velocity between the plasma and a charged
object.
