Linear and non-linear propagation of electrostatic positron-acoustic waves and envelope solitons in 4-component quantum plasma containing relativistically degenerate electrons and positrons

Abstract

A hydrodynamic model is employed to investigate the linear and non-linear propagation of electrostatic positron acoustic waves (EPAWs) in a 4-component relativistic-degenerate electron-positron-ion plasma. The plasma constituents are cold positrons, hot relativistic-degenerate electrons and positrons, and cold static ions in the background. The hot electrons and positrons are treated as inertialess, and the cold positrons provide the inertia while the restoring force comes from the hot species. A dispersion relation for low-frequency EPAWs is derived. It is observed that an increase in the relative density of hot positrons to cold positrons and relativistic effects tend to reduce the speed of the EPAWs. Employing the standard Reductive Perturbation Technique, a Korteweg de Vries (KdV)-type equation is derived, and the existence of KdV solitons is demonstrated. In this case, an increase in the relative density of hot to cold positrons and relativistic effects decreases both the amplitude and width of the solitons. Furthermore, a Non-Linear Schrödinger (NLS) equation is also derived. The variation in the group velocity shows less change with the wavenumber for the higher concentration of positrons and also with the stronger relativistic effects. The interchange in the behaviour of group velocity with the positron concentration is observed for values k > 1. The growth rate of modulation instability is derived, and its dependence on the positron concentration and relativistic effects are discussed. The relativistic effects reduce the stability region while the growth rate is enhanced while moving from weak-relativistic to ultra-relativistic cases. The hot positron concentration makes the wave modulationally stable for an extended region of the wavenumber k. The solution of the NLS equation admits the existence of both bright and dark envelope solitons. The profiles of the envelope solitons show inverse dependence on the positron concentration and on the relativistic effects.