Longitudinal photons in a relativistic magneto-active plasma

Abstract

This paper presents some aspects of interaction of superstrong high-frequency electromagnetic waves with strongly magnetized plasmas. The case in which the photon-photon interaction dominates the photon-plasma particle interaction is considered. Strictly speaking, the photon and photon bunch interaction leads to the self-modulation of the photon gas. Assuming that the density of the plasma does not change, the dispersion relation, which includes relativistic self-modulation, is investigated. The existence of longitudinal photons in a strong magnetic field has the well-known Bogoliubov-type energy spectrum. The stability of the photon flow is investigated and an expression for Landau damping of the photons is obtained. Finally, it has been shown that the interaction of even a very strong electromagnetic radiation with a plasma does not always lead to instability, but causes only a change in plasma properties, whereby the plasma remains stable. © 2007 American Institute of Physics