Dispersion relation of low-frequency electrostatic waves in plasmas with relativistic electrons

Abstract

AbstractThe dispersion relation of electrostatic waves with phase velocities smaller than the electron thermal velocity is investigated in relativistic temperature plasmas. The model equations are the electron relativistic collisionless hydrodynamic equations and the ion non-relativistic Vlasov equation, coupled to the Poisson equation. The complex frequency of electrostatic modes are calculated numerically as a function of the relevant parameters kλDe and ZTe/Ti where k is the wavenumber, λDe, the electron Debye length, Te and Ti the electron and ion temperature, and Z, the ion charge number. Useful analytic expressions of the real and imaginary parts of frequency are also proposed. The non-relativistic results established in the literature from the kinetic theory are recovered and the role of the relativistic effects on the dispersion and the damping rate of electrostatic modes is discussed. In particular, it is shown that in highly relativistic regime the electrostatic waves are strongly damped.