Melrose, D B

Weise, J I

McOrist, J

2006-07

<p>Relativistic quantum plasma dispersion functions (RQPDFs) are defined and the longitudinal and transverse response functions for an electron (plus positron) gas are written in terms of them. The dispersion is separated into Landau-damping, pair-creation and dissipationless regimes. Explicit forms are given for the RQPDFs in the cases of a completely degenerate distribution and a nondegenerate thermal (Jüttner) distribution. Particular emphasis is placed on the relation between dissipation and dispersion, with the dissipation treated in terms of the imaginary parts of RQPDFs. Comparing the dissipation calculated in this way with the existing treatments leads to the identification of errors in the literature, which we correct. We also comment on a controversy as to whether the dispersion curves in a superdense plasma pass through the region where pair creation is allowed.</p>

Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, 39(27), p. 8727-8740

1361-6447

0305-4470

1751-8121

1751-8113

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/52996

Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd

Relativistic quantum plasma dispersion functions

Journal Article

Publication