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We study with particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations the stability of fast magnetosonic shocks. They expand across a collisionless plasma and an orthogonal magnetic field that is aligned with one of the directions resolved by the 2D simulations. The shock speed is 1.6 times the fast magnetosonic speed when it enters a layer with a reduced density of mobile ions, which decreases the shock speed by up to 15\% in 1D simulations. In the 2D simulations, the density of mobile ions in the layer varies sinusoidally perpendicularly to the shock normal. We resolve one sine period. This variation only leads to small changes in the shock speed evidencing a restoring force that opposes a shock deformation. As the shock propagates through the layer, the ion density becomes increasingly spatially modulated along the shock front and the magnetic field bulges out where the mobile ion density is lowest. The perturbed shock eventually reaches a steady state. Once it leaves the layer, the perturbations of the ion density and magnetic field oscillate along its front at a frequency close to the lower-hybrid frequency; the shock is mediated by a standing wave composed of obliquely propagating lower-hybrid waves. We perform three 2D simulations with different box lengths along the shock front. The shock front oscillations are aperiodically damped in the smallest box with the fastest variation of the ion density, strongly damped in the intermediate one, and weakly damped in the largest box. The shock front oscillations perturb the magnetic field in a spatial interval that extends by several electron skin depths upstream and downstream of the shock front and could give rise to Whistler waves that propagate along the shock's magnetic field overshoot. Similar waves were observed in hybrid and PIC simulations and by the MMS satellite mission., Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physica Scripta

We present measurements from the ESA/NASA Cluster mission that show in situ acceleration of ions to energies of 1 MeV outside the bow shock. The observed heating can be associated with the presence of electromagnetic structures with strong spatial gradients of the electric field that lead to ion gyro-phase breaking and to the onset of chaos in ion trajectories. It results in rapid, stochastic acceleration of ions in the direction perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field. The electric potential of the structures can be compared to a field of moguls on a ski slope, capable of accelerating and ejecting the fast running skiers out of piste. This mechanism may represent the universal mechanism for perpendicular acceleration and heating of ions in the magnetosphere, the solar corona and in astrophysical plasmas. This is also a basic mechanism that can limit steepening of nonlinear electromagnetic structures at shocks and foreshocks in collisionless plasmas., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

We are responding to the comment of Tyshetskiy and Vladimirov [arXiv:1212.4286] on a recently published paper by Shukla and Eliasson [arXiv:1112.5556], regarding the discovery of a novel attractive force on stationary test ion charges of the same sign shielded by degenerate electrons in a dense quantum plasma.

Bodies that lack a significant atmosphere and internal magnetic fields, such as the Moon and asteroids, can to a first approximation be considered passive absorbers of the solar wind. The solar wind ions and electrons directly impact the surface of these bodies due to the lack of atmosphere, and the interplanetary magnetic field passes through the obstacle relatively undisturbed because the bodies are assumed to be non-conductive. Since the solar wind is absorbed by the body, a wake is created behind the object. This wake is gradually filled by solar wind plasma downstream of the body, through thermal expansion and the resulting ambipolar electric field, along the magnetic field lines. Here we study this plasma expansion into a vacuum using a hybrid plasma solver. In the hybrid approximation, ions are treated as particles, and electrons as a massless fluid. We also derive corresponding one- and two-dimensional model problems that account for the absorbing obstacle. It is found that the absorbing obstacle create ion velocity distributions that are far from the assumed upstream thermal Maxwellian distributions. Such distributions can give rise to different plasma instabilities that has been observed in the Lunar wake., Comment: 39th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics and 16th International Congress on Plasma Physics, S. Ratynskaya, L. Blomberg, A. Fasoli, eds., Europhysics Conference Abstracts, Vol. 36F, ISBN 2-914771-79-7, European Physical Society, 2012

By means of particle simulations of the equations of motion for ions interacting among themselves under the influence of newly discovered Shukla-Eliasson attractive force (SEAF) in a dense quantum plasma, we demonstrate that the SEAF can bring ions closer at atomic dimensions. We present simulation results of the dynamics of an ensemble of ions in the presence of the SEAF without and with confining external potentials and collisions between the ions and degenerate electrons. Our particle simulations reveal that under the SEAF, ions attract each other, come closer and form ionic clusters in the bath of degenerate electrons that shield the ions. Furthermore, an external confining potential produces robust ion clusters that can have cigar-like and ball-like shapes, which remain stable when the confining potential is removed. The stability of ion clusters is discussed. Our results may have applications to solid density plasmas (density exceeding $10^{23}$ per cubic centimeters), where the electrons will be degenerate and quantum forces due to the electron recoil effect caused by the overlapping of electron wave functions and electron tunneling through the Bohm potential, electron-exchange and electron-exchange and electron correlations associated with electron-1/2 spin effect, and the quantum statistical pressure of the degenerate electrons play a decisive role., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. To appear in Journal of Plasma Physics

The quantum relativistic Buneman instability is investigated theoretically using a collective Klein-Gordon model for the electrons and a cold fluid model for the ions. The growth rate and unstable wave spectrum is investigated in different parameter regimes corresponding to various degrees of relativistic and quantum effects. The results may be important for streaming instabilities involving ion dynamics in very dense plasmas.

In a recent paper Bonitz, Pehlke and Schoof [1], hereafter referred to as BPS, have raised some points against the newly found Shukla-Eliasson attractive potential [2,3], hereafter refererred to as SEAP, around a stationary test charge in a quantum plasma [2,3]. Our objective here is to discuss the inappropriateness of BPS reasoning concerning the applicability of the linearized quantum hydrodynamic theory, as well as to point out the shortcomings in BSP's arguments and to suggest for rescuing the BSP's density functional theory and simulations which have failed to produce results that correctly match with that of Shukla and Eliasson [2,3]., Comment: Submitted to PRE journal

A multistream model for spinless electrons in a relativistic quantum plasma is introduced by means of a suitable fluid-like version of the Klein-Gordon-Maxwell system. The one and two-stream cases are treated in detail. A new linear instability condition for two-stream quantum plasmas is obtained, generalizing the previously known non-relativistic results. In both the one and two-stream cases, steady-state solutions reduce the model to a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which can be numerically solved, yielding a manifold of nonlinear periodic and soliton structures. The validity conditions for the applicability of the model are addressed.

We present a fully nonlinear theory for dust acoustic (DA) shocks and DA solitary pulses in a strongly coupled dusty plasma, which have been recently observed experimentally by Heinrich et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 115002 (2009)], Teng et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 245005 (2009)], and Bandyopadhyay et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 065006 (2008)]. For this purpose, we use a generalized hydrodynamic model for the strongly coupled dust grains, accounting for arbitrary large amplitude dust number density compressions and potential distributions associated with fully nonlinear nonstationary DA waves. Time-dependent numerical solutions of our nonlinear model compare favorably well with the recent experimental works (mentioned above) that have reported the formation of large amplitude non-stationary DA shocks and DA solitary pulses in low-temperature dusty plasma discharges., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. To be published in Physical Review E

The generation of ELF (of the order of 10 Hz) currents and electromagnetic fields in the off-equatorial E-region (90-120 km) of the Earth's ionosphere and their subsequent penetration into the deeper ionospheric layers is studied theoretically and numerically. These ELF currents and fields are generated by the interaction of an electromagnetic pulse with the E-region at its lower boundary located at 90 km above the Earth's surface. The wave penetration (with a typical wavelength of the order of 10 km) of the generated ELF currents and fields into the deeper ionospheric layers up to 120 km takes place due to the dominance of the Hall conductivity over the Pederson conductivity in the region between 90-120 km and penetration becomes diffusive above 120 km. During night time, the increase in the wave speed due to the reduced conductivities leads to the deeper penetration. As the angle between Earth's magnetic field and horizontal is increased (going away from the equator), the currents and fields penetrate deeper into the ionospheric layers with increased wavelength, the magnitudes of horizontal (east-west) and vertical currents decrease near the boundary and the vertical electric field decreases drastically. The horizontal (east-west) current integrated along vertical is fitted with a current distribution which can be replaced by a line current raised above its actual height by the half width of the current distribution for the purpose of the calculation of its radiation. The maximum of the total east-west current (310 Amps) remains same for various simulation parameters due to the magnetic shielding.

The current understanding of some important nonlinear collective processes in quantum plasmas with degenerate electrons is presented. After reviewing the basic properties of quantum plasmas, we present model equations (e.g. the quantum hydrodynamic and effective nonlinear Schr\"odinger-Poisson equations) that describe collective nonlinear phenomena at nanoscales. The effects of the electron degeneracy arise due to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and Pauli's exclusion principle for overlapping electron wavefunctions that result in tunneling of electrons and the electron degeneracy pressure. Since electrons are Fermions (spin-1/2), there also appears an electron spin current and a spin force acting on electrons due to the Bohr magnetization. The quantum effects produce new aspects of electrostatic (ES) and electromagnetic (EM) waves in a quantum plasma that are summarized in here. Furthermore, we discuss nonlinear features of ES ion waves and electron plasma oscillations (ESOs), as well as the trapping of intense EM waves in quantum electron density cavities. Specifically, simulation studies of the coupled nonlinear Schr\"odinger (NLS) and Poisson equations reveal the formation and dynamics of localized ES structures at nanoscales in a quantum plasma. We also discuss the effect of an external magnetic field on the plasma wave spectra and develop quantum magnetohydrodynamic (Q-MHD) equations. The results are useful for understanding numerous collective phenomena in quantum plasmas, such as those in compact astrophysical objects, in plasma-assisted nanotechnology, and in the next-generation of intense laser-solid density plasma interaction experiments., Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures. To be published in Reviews of Modern Physics

A simulation study of the magnetic electron drift vortex (MEDV) mode turbulence in a magnetoplasma in the presence of inhomogeneities in the plasma temperature and density, as well as in the external magnetic field, is presented. The study shows that the influence of the magnetic field inhomogeneity is to suppress streamer-like structures observed in previous simulation studies without background magnetic fields. The MEDV mode turbulence exhibits non-universal (non-Kolmogorov type) spectra for different sets of the plasma parameters. In the presence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field, the spectrum changes to a 7/3 power law, which is flatter than without magnetic field gradients. The relevance of this work to laser-produced plasmas in the laboratory is briefly mentioned., Comment: Paper is accepted in Physical Review E

Large amplitude water waves on deep water has long been known in the sea faring community, and the cause of great concern for, e.g., oil platform constructions. The concept of such freak waves is nowadays, thanks to satellite and radar measurements, well established within the scientific community. There are a number of important models and approaches for the theoretical description of such waves. By analyzing the scaling behavior of freak wave formation in a model of two interacting waves, described by two coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations, we show that there are two different dynamical scaling behaviors above and below a critical angle theta_c of the direction of the interacting waves below theta_c all wave systems evolve and display statistics similar to a wave system of non-interacting waves. The results equally apply to other systems described by the nonlinear Schroedinger equations, and should be of interest when designing optical wave guides., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Europhysics Letters

The quasilinear theory of the Wigner-Poisson system in one spatial dimension is examined. Conservation laws and properties of the stationary solutions are determined. Quantum effects are shown to manifest themselves in transient periodic oscillations of the averaged Wigner function in velocity space. The quantum quasilinear theory is checked against numerical simulations of the bump-on-tail and the two-stream instabilities. The predicted wavelength of the oscillations in velocity space agrees well with the numerical results.

Electromagnetic waves with an azimuthal phase shift are known to have a well defined orbital angular momentum. Different methods that allow for the detection of the angular momentum are proposed. For some, we discuss the required experimental setup and explore the range of applicability.

We study theoretically the exchange of angular momentum between a photon beam and a plasma vortex, and demonstrate the possible excitation of photon angular momentum states in a plasma. This can be relevant to laboratory and space plasma diagnostics; radio astronomy self-calibration; and generating photon angular momentum beams. A static plasma perturbation with helical structure, and a rotating plasma vortex are studied in detail and a comparison between these two cases, and their relevance to the physical nature of photon OAM, is established., Comment: 4 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

We present an investigation for the generation of intense magnetic fields in dense plasmas with an anisotropic electron Fermi-Dirac distribution. For this purpose, we use a new linear dispersion relation for transverse waves in the Wigner-Maxwell dense quantum plasma system. Numerical analysis of the dispersion relation reveals the scaling of the growth rate as a function of the Fermi energy and the temperature anisotropy. The nonlinear saturation level of the magnetic fields is found through fully kinetic simulations, which indicates that the final amplitudes of the magnetic fields are proportional to the linear growth rate of the instability. The present results are important for understanding the origin of intense magnetic fields in dense Fermionic plasmas, such as those in the next generation intense laser-solid density plasma experiments., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

The three-dimensional instability of two coupled electromagnetic waves in an unmagnetized plasma is investigated theoretically and numerically. In the regime of two-plasmon decay, where one pump wave frequency is approximately twice the electron plasma frequency, we find that the coupled pump waves give rise to enhanced instability with wave vectors between those of the two beams. In the case of ion parametric decay instability, where the pump wave decays into one Langmuir wave and one ion acoustic wave, the instability regions are added with no distinct amplification. Our investigation can be useful in interpreting laser-plasma as well as ionospheric heating experiments., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Journal of Plasma Physics

Starting from the governing equations for a quantum magnetoplasma including the quantum Bohm potential and electron spin-1/2 effects, we show that the system of quantum magnetohydrodynamic (QMHD) equations admit rarefactive solitons due to the balance between nonlinearities and quantum diffraction/tunneling effects. It is found that the electron spin-1/2 effect introduces a pressure-like term with negative sign in the QMHD equations, which modifies the shape of the solitary magnetosonic waves and makes them wider and shallower. Numerical simulations of the time-dependent system shows the development of rarefactive QMHD solitary waves that are modified by the spin effects., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in Physical Review E

We present for the first time the nonlinear dynamics of quantum electrodynamic (QED) photon splitting in a strongly magnetized electron-positron (pair) plasma. By using a QED corrected Maxwell equation, we derive a set of equations that exhibit nonlinear couplings between electromagnetic (EM) waves due to nonlinear plasma currents and QED polarization and magnetization effects. Numerical analyses of our coupled nonlinear EM wave equations reveal the possibility of a more efficient decay channel, as well as new features of energy exchange among the three EM modes that are nonlinearly interacting in magnetized pair plasmas. Possible applications of our investigation to astrophysical settings, such as magnetars, are pointed out., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letters

We consider the modulational instability of nonlinearly interacting two-dimensional waves in deep water, which are described by a pair of two-dimensional coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations. We derive a nonlinear dispersion relation. The latter is numerically analyzed to obtain the regions and the associated growth rates of the modulational instability. Furthermore, we follow the long term evolution of the latter by means of computer simulations of the governing nonlinear equations and demonstrate the formation of localized coherent wave envelopes. Our results should be useful for understanding the formation and nonlinear propagation characteristics of large amplitude freak waves in deep water., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letters

A kinetic equation describing the nonlinear evolution of intense electromagnetic pulses in electron-positron (e-p) plasmas is presented. The modulational instability is analyzed for a relativistically intense partially coherent pulse, and it is found that the modulational instability is inhibited by the spectral pulse broadening. A numerical study for the one-dimensional kinetic photon equation is presented. Computer simulations reveal a Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-like recurrence phenomena for localized broadband pulses. The results should be of importance in understanding the nonlinear propagation of broadband intense electromagnetic pulses in e-p plasmas in laser-plasma systems as well as in astrophysical plasma settings., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Plasmas

We investigate the nonlinear interaction between two laser beams in a plasma in the weakly nonlinear and relativistic regime. The evolution of the laser beams is governed by two nonlinear Schroedinger equations that are coupled with the slow plasma density response. We study the growth rates of the Raman forward and backward scattering instabilities as well of the Brillouin and self-focusing/modulational instabilities. The nonlinear evolution of the instabilities is investigated by means of direct simulations of the time-dependent system of nonlinear equations., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures

The collective production of electron-positron pairs by electrostatic waves in quantum plasmas is investigated. In particular, a semi-classical governing set of equation for a self-consistent treatment of pair creation by the Schwinger mechanism in a quantum plasma is derived., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in JETP Letters

Photon-photon scattering, due to photons interacting with virtual electron-positron pairs, is an intriguing deviation from classical electromagnetism predicted by quantum electrodynamics (QED). Apart from being of fundamental interest in itself, collisions between photons are believed to be of importance in the vicinity of magnetars, in the present generation intense lasers, and in intense laser-plasma/matter interactions; the latter recreating astrophysical conditions in the laboratory. We show that an intense photon pulse propagating through a radiation gas can self-focus, and under certain circumstances collapse. This is due to the response of the radiation background, creating a potential well in which the pulse gets trapped, giving rise to photonic solitary structures. When the radiation gas intensity has reached its peak values, the gas releases part of its energy into `photon wedges', similar to Cherenkov radiation. The results should be of importance for the present generation of intense lasers and for the understanding of localized gamma ray bursts in astrophysical environments. They could furthermore test the predictions of QED, and give means to create ultra-intense photonic pulses., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

The existence and properties of phase-space structures in current-carrying pair plasmas is studied by means of the finite amplitude expressions of the pseudo-potential method. Emphasis is given to double layers, solitary structures and periodic waves. The results can be applied to electron-positron plasmas as well as to plasmas containing heavier charged particles with the same mass and opposite charges, such as fullerene ions and dust particles. They can also help to understand numerical simulations that showed the spontaneous formation of phase-space holes in linearly stable regimes., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures

We present a new dispersion relation for photons that are nonlinearly interacting with a radiation gas of arbitrary intensity due to photon-photon scattering. It is found that the photon phase velocity decreases with increasing radiation intensity, it and attains a minimum value in the limit of super-intense fields. By using Hamilton's ray equations, a self-consistent kinetic theory for interacting photons is formulated. The interaction between an electromagnetic pulse and the radiation gas is shown to produce pulse self-compression and nonlinear saturation. Implications of our new results are discussed., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, version to appear in Europhys. Lett

Exact nonlinear equations for magnetosonic shocklets in a uniform hot magnetoplasma are derived by using the nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic equations. Analytic as well as numerical solutions of the nonlinear equations are presented. Shock-like structures of the ion fluid velocity and magnetic field (or the plasma density) perturbations are obtained. The results may have relevance to the understanding of fast magnetosonic shocklets that have been recently observed by onboard instruments of the Cluster spacecraft at the Earth's bow shock., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Plasmas