Plasmon beam instability and plasmon Landau damping of ion acoustic waves

Abstract

A new view is proposed on wave propagation in a plasma, where the resonant interaction of ion acoustic waves with quasiparticles (plasmons) is considered. The distribution of quasiparticles is used to describe broadband electron plasma turbulence. Resonant interactions occur when the phase velocity of the ion acoustic wave is nearly equal to the group velocity of the electron plasma waves (or plasmons) associated with the turbulent spectrum. It is shown that plasmon Landau damping can take place, and beam type instabilities are discussed.