Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Physics, Fluids & Plasmas, Physics, MAGNETIC-FIELD GENERATION, INTENSE LASER-PULSES, NON-LINEAR CONDUCTIVITY, LOW-FREQUENCY RESPONSE, KINETIC-THEORY, COLLISIONLESS PLASMA, 3-WAVE INTERACTION, TURBULENT-PLASMA, OVERDENSE PLASMA, VLASOV-PLASMA, 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, 0299 Other Physical Sciences, Fluids & Plasmas, 5106 Nuclear and plasma physics

Abstract:

The resonant interaction between longitudinal and transverse plasma waves is investigated on the basis of a relativistic kinetic theory. The relativistic form of nonlinear plasma permittivity is derived assuming that initial plasma is at thermal equilibrium and described by a relativistic Maxwellian distribution. For low nonrelativistic plasma temperatures (kBT/mc2 ≪ 1), the nonlinear plasma permittivity is markedly different from the standard form provided by a classical nonrelativistic approach. The relativistic correction derived in this case is estimated to be of the order of thermal plasma parameter, μ-1 ≤ kB T/mc2, and it will vanish only for an idealized cold plasma, T → 0. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.