Oblique solitary Alfvén modes in relativistic electron-positron plasmas (Q1368958)

In the description of an electron-positron plasma special simplification or complication may occur due to the fact that the specific charge (the charge-to-mass ratio) of the species is the same (contrary to the case of electron-ion-plasmas). This fact is studied here for the linear and nonlinear evolution of large-amplitude low-frequency waves in relativistic plasmas. The important point seems to be the equal importance and electrons and ions in the large-amplitude waves, whereas the importance of positrons is, to a certain extent, not evident in the literature. Now the authors study a homogeneous electron-positron-plasma, quasineutral and immersed in a uniform magnetic field, and investigate oblique wavemodes. Relativity is taken into account by the complete set of Maxwell's equations and by the use of the so-called relativistic momentum (with velocity-dependent mass). The linearized equations lead to a wave equation, from which a dispersion relation for the circularly polarized waves is derived. The so-called Alfvén mode can be separated from the other modes, and the Alfvén speed can be identified in the special case of non-coinciding gyrofrequency and plasma frequency. At low frequencies, the long-wavelength Alfvén waves propagate at an angle with respect to the external magnetic field, since in the general theory due to the specific charge the time scales contribute differently to linear and nonlinear wave evolutions. The usual way to obtain a KdV equation leads to the conclusion that nonlinearity tends to vanish in the case of the waves propagating parallel to the magnetic field, and turns out to be strongest at strictly perpendicular propagation. The latter case leads to a higher order in the approximation scheme, and to a modified KdV equation. The resulting nonlinear Alfvén solitons can be of great importance by the study of the high-frequency pulsar radiation.