Use of the positron as a plasma particle

Study of Positron Impact Scattering from Methane and Silane Using an Analytically Obtained Static Potential with Correlation Polarization

A detailed study of positron impact elastic scattering from methane and silane is carried out using a model potential consisting of static and polarization potentials. The static potential for the molecular target is obtained analytically by using accurate Gaussian molecular wavefunctions. The molecular orbitals are expressed as a linear combination of Gaussian atomic orbitals. Along with the analytically obtained static potential, a correlation polarization potential is also added to construct the model potential. Utilizing the model potential, the Schrödinger equation is solved using the partial wave phase shift analysis method, and the scattering amplitude is obtained in terms of the phase shifts. Thereafter, the differential, integrated and total cross sections are calculated. These cross-section results are compared with the previously reported measurements and theoretical calculations.

Three-Dimensional Rogue Waves in Earth’s Ionosphere

The modulational instability of ion-acoustic waves (IAWs) in a four-component magneto-plasma system consisting of positive–negative ions fluids and non-Maxwellian (r,q) distributed electrons and positrons, is investigated. The basic system of fluid equations is reduced to a three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear Schrödinger Equation (NLS). The domains of the IAWs stability are determined and are found to be strongly affected by electrons and positrons spectral parameters r and q and temperature ratio Tp/Te (Tp and Te are positrons and electrons temperatures, respectively). The existence domains, where we can observe the ion-acoustic rogue waves (IARWs) are determined. The basic features of IARWs are analyzed numerically against the distribution parameters and the other system physical parameters as Tp/Te and the external magnetic field strength. Moreover, a comparison between the first- and second-order rogue waves solution is presented. Our results show that the nonlinearity of the system increases by increasing the values of the non-Maxwellian parameters and the physical parameters of the system. This means that the system gains more energy by increasing r, q, Tp, and the external magnetic field through the cyclotron frequency ωci. Finally, our theoretical model displays the effect of the non-Maxwellian particles on the MI of the IAWs and RWs and its importance in D–F regions of Earth’s ionosphere through (H+,O2−) and (H+,H−) electronegative plasmas.

Dust-Acoustic Rogue Waves in an Electron-Positron-Ion-Dust Plasma Medium

In this work, the modulational instability of dust-acoustic (DA) waves (DAWs) is theoretically studied in a four-component plasma medium with electrons, positrons, ions, and negative dust grains. The nonlinear and dispersive coefficients of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) are used to recognize the stable and unstable parametric regimes of the DAWs. It can be seen from the numerical analysis that the amplitude of the DA rogue waves decreases with increasing populations of positrons and ions. It is also observed that the direction of the variation of the critical wave number is independent (dependent) of the sign (magnitude) of q. The applications of the outcomes from the present investigation are briefly addressed.

Heavy ion-acoustic rogue waves in electron-positron multi-ion plasmas

The nonlinear propagation of heavy-ion-acoustic (HIA) waves (HIAWs) in a four-component multi-ion plasma (containing inertial heavy negative ions and light positive ions, as well as inertialess nonextensive electrons and positrons) has been theoretically investigated. The nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation is derived by employing the reductive perturbation method. It is found that the NLS equation leads to the modulational instability (MI) of HIAWs, and to the formation of HIA rogue waves (HIARWs), which are due to the effects of nonlinearity and dispersion in the propagation of HIAWs. The conditions for the MI of HIAWs and the basic properties of the generated HIARWs are identified. It is observed that the striking features (viz., instability criteria, growth rate of MI, amplitude and width of HIARWs, etc.) of the HIAWs are significantly modified by the effects of nonextensivity of electrons and positrons, the ratio of light positive ion mass to heavy negative ion mass, the ratio of electron number density to light positive ion number density, the ratio of electron temperature to positron temperature, etc. The relevancy of our present investigation to the observations in space (viz., cometary comae and earth's ionosphere) and laboratory (viz., solid-high intense laser plasma interaction experiments) plasmas is pointed out.

Langmuir oscillations in a nonextensive electron-positron plasma

The Langmuir oscillations, Landau damping, and growing unstable modes in an electron-positron (EP) plasma are studied by using the Vlasov and Poisson's equations in the context of the Tsallis's nonextensive statistics. Logically, the properties of the Langmuir oscillations in a nonextensive EP plasma are remarkably modified in comparison with that of discussed in the Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics, i.e., the Maxwellian plasmas, because of the system under consideration is essentially a plasma system in a nonequilibrium stationary state with inhomogeneous temperature. It is found that by decreasing the nonextensivity index q which corresponds to a plasma with excess superthermal particles, the phase velocity of the Langmuir waves increases. In particular, depend on the degree of nonextensivity, both of damped and growing oscillations are predicted in a collisionless EP plasma, arise from a resonance phenomena between the wave and the nonthermal particles of the system. Here, the mechanism leads to the unstable modes is established in the context of the nonextensive formalism yet the damping mechanism is the same developed by Landau. Furthermore, our results have the flexibility to reduce to the solutions of an equilibrium Maxwellian EP plasma (extensive limit q→1), in which the Langmuir waves are only the Landau damped modes.

Nonlinear electromagnetic perturbations in a degenerate ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasma

Nonlinear propagation of fast and slow magnetosonic perturbation modes in an ultrarelativistic, ultracold, degenerate (extremely dense) electron positron (EP) plasma (containing ultrarelativistic, ultracold, degenerate electron and positron fluids) has been investigated by the reductive perturbation method. The Alfvén wave velocity is modified due to the presence of the enthalpy correction in the fluid equations of motion. The degenerate EP plasma system (under consideration) supports the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) solitons, which are associated with either fast or slow magnetosonic perturbation modes. It is found that the ultrarelativistic model leads to compressive (rarefactive) electromagnetic solitons corresponding to the fast (slow) wave mode. There are certain critical angles, θ(c), at which no soliton solution is found corresponding to the fast wave mode. For the slow mode, the magnetic-field intensity affects both the soliton amplitude and width. It is also illustrated that the basic features of the electromagnetic solitary structures, which are found to exist in such a degenerate EP plasma, are significantly modified by the effects of enthalpy correction, electron and positron degeneracy, magnetic-field strength, and the relativistic effect. The applications of the results in a pair-plasma medium, which occurs in many astrophysical objects (e.g., pulsars, white dwarfs, and neutron stars) are briefly discussed.

Asymmetry-driven structure formation in pair plasmas

The nonlinear propagation of electromagnetic waves in pair plasmas, in which the electrostatic potential plays a very important but subdominant role of a "binding glue" is investigated. Several mechanisms for structure formation are investigated, in particular, the "asymmetry" in the initial temperatures of the constituent species. It is shown that the temperature asymmetry leads to a (localizing) nonlinearity that is qualitatively different from the ones originating in ambient mass or density difference. The temperature-asymmetry-driven focusing-defocusing nonlinearity supports stable localized wave structures in 1-3 dimensions, which, for certain parameters, may have flat-top shapes.

Optimizing electron-positron pair production on kilojoule-class high-intensity lasers for the purpose of pair-plasma creation

Expressions for the yield of electron-positron pairs, their energy spectra, and production rates have been obtained in the interaction of multi-kJ pulses of high-intensity laser light interacting with solid targets. The Bethe-Heitler conversion of hard x-ray bremsstrahlung [D. A. Gryaznykh, Y. Z. Kandiev, and V. A. Lykov, JETP Lett. 67, 257 (1998); K. Nakashima and H. Takabe, Phys. Plasmas 9, 1505 (2002)] is shown to dominate over direct production (trident process) [E. P. Liang, S. C. Wilks, and M. Tabak, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4887 (1998)]. The yields and production rates have been optimized as a function of incident laser intensity by the choice of target material and dimensions, indicating that up to 5 x 10 (11) pairs can be produced on the OMEGA EP laser system [L. J. Waxer, Opt. Photonics News 16, 30 (2005)]. The corresponding production rates are high enough to make possible the creation of a pair plasma.

Cylindrical and spherical ion-acoustic envelope solitons in multicomponent plasmas with positrons

The nonlinear wave modulation of planar and nonplanar (cylindrical and spherical) ion-acoustic envelope solitons in a collisionless unmagnetized electron-positron-ion plasma with two-electron temperature distributions has been studied. The reductive perturbative technique is used to obtain a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which includes a damping term that accounts for the geometrical effect. The critical wave number threshold Kc, which indicates where the modulational instability sets in, has been determined for various regimes. It is found that an increase in the positron concentration (alpha) leads to a decrease in the critical wave number (Kc) until alpha approaches certain value alphac (critical positron concentration), then further increase in alpha beyond alphac increases the value of Kc. Also, it is found that there is a modulation instability period for the cylindrical and spherical wave modulation, which does not exist in the one-dimensional case.

Small amplitude ion-acoustic double layers in multicomponent plasma with positrons

Ion-acoustic double layers has been studied in multicomponent plasma with positrons. Using the reductive perturbation method, the modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation is derived for the system. The double-layer solution of the mKdV equation is discussed in detail. It is found that there exist two critical concentrations of positrons, alphaR and alphaQ, which decide the existence and nature of the ion-acoustic double layers. It is also found that the system supports ion-acoustic double layers only when the positron concentration (alpha) is less than the critical concentration alphaR (i.e., alpha<alphaR). It is also investigated that for the given set of parameter values, if alphaR<alphaQ, the system supports only rarefactive double layers for the values of alpha lying in the range 0<alpha<alphaR. However, for the given set of parameter values alphaR>alphaQ, the system supports rarefactive double layers for alpha<alphaQ, and for alpha>alphaQ, compressive double layers exist. The present theory also predicts that for a given set of parameter values on increasing the positron concentration, the amplitude of the rarefactive (compressive) double layer decreases (increases), whereas as positron concentration is increased, the width of the rarefactive (compressive) double layer increases (decreases). The effects of positron concentration and temperature ratio on the characteristics of the double layers (namely amplitude and width) are discussed in detail.

Collective mode properties in a paired fullerene-ion plasma

A pair-ion plasma without electrons consisting of C60+ and C60- is generated through the processes of electron-impact ionization, electron attachment, and magnetic filtering. Properties of electrostatic modes propagating along magnetic-field lines are experimentally investigated by externally exciting them with two types of electrodes. It is found that four kinds of wave modes exist and a frequency spectrum of phase lag between the density fluctuations of C60+ and C60- is unique in comparison with ordinary electron-ion plasmas. One of the modes is an ion acoustic wave which is divided into two branches at around the ion cyclotron frequency in the presence of a backwardlike mode joining them. The phase lag of the ion acoustic wave strongly depends on the frequency, while those for the other ion plasma and intermediate-frequency waves are constant at pi independent of the frequency.

Electrostatic waves in a paired fullerene-ion plasma

Three kinds of electrostatic modes are experimentally observed to propagate along magnetic-field lines for the first time in the pair-ion plasma consisting of only positive and negative fullerene ions with an equal mass. It is found that the phase lag between the density fluctuations of positive and negative ions varies from 0 to pi depending on the frequency for ion acoustic wave and is fixed at pi for an ion plasma wave. In addition, a new mode with the phase lag about pi appears in an intermediate-frequency band between the frequency ranges of the acoustic and plasma waves.

Nonlinear drift waves in electron-positron-ion plasmas

It is suggested that low-frequency drift waves can play an important role in the dynamics of electron-positron plasmas comprising some concentration of ions. In the electromagnetic case the drift wave couples with the shear Alfvén wave in an electron-positron-ion plasma. The drift wave frequency can be very low in such plasmas depending on the concentration and density scale lengths of the plasma components. In the nonlinear regime these waves can give rise to dipolar vortices in both electrostatic and electromagnetic limits. The velocity of the nonlinear structure turns out to be different compared to the case of an electron-ion plasma.