  We investigate the existence conditions and propagation properties of
electron-acoustic solitary waves in a plasma consisting of an electron beam
fluid, a cold electron fluid, and a hot suprathermal electron component modeled
by a $\kappa$-distribution function. The Sagdeev pseudopotential method was
used to investigate the occurrence of stationary-profile solitary waves. We
have determined how the soliton characteristics depend on the electron beam
parameters. It is found that the existence domain for solitons becomes narrower
with an increase in the suprathermality of hot electrons, increasing the beam
speed, and decreasing the beam-to-cold electron population ratio.
