Exact evaluation of the quadratic longitudinal response function for an unmagnetized Maxwellian plasma

Abstract

The quadratic longitudinal response function describes the second-order nonlinear response of a plasma to electrostatic wave fields. An explicit expression for this function in the weak-turbulence regime requires the evaluation of velocity-space integrals involving the velocity distribution function and various resonant denominators. Previous calculations of the quadratic longitudinal response function were performed by approximating the resonant denominators to facilitate the integration. Here, we evaluate these integrals exactly for a non-relativistic collisionless unmagnetized isotropic Maxwellian plasma in terms of generalized plasma dispersion functions, and correct certain aspects of expressions previously derived for these functions. We show that in the appropriate limits the exact expression reduces to the approximate form used for interactions between two fast waves and one slow wave, such as the electrostatic decay of Langmuir waves into Langmuir waves and ion sound waves, and the scattering of Langmuir waves off thermal ions.