Breaking of Large Amplitude Electron Plasma Wave in a Maxwellian Plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates the maximum amplitude of large electron plasma waves in Maxwellian plasmas using numerical simulations, confirming Coffey's wave breaking limit and exploring the relationship between wave breaking and particle trapping.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Coffey's wave solutions apply to Maxwellian plasmas and verifies the wave breaking limit through PIC simulations with varying temperatures.

Findings

Coffey's wave solutions are valid in Maxwellian plasmas.

Wave breaking limit depends on electron temperature.

Wave breaking is associated with particle trapping.

Abstract

The determination of maximum possible amplitude of a coherent longitudinal plasma oscillation/wave is a topic of fundamental importance in non-linear plasma physics. The amplitudes of these large amplitude plasma waves is limited by a phenomena called wave breaking which may be induced by several non-linear processes. It was shown by Coffey [T. P. Coffey, Phys. Fluids 14, 1402 (1971)] using a "water-bag" distribution for electrons that, in a warm plasma the maximum electric field amplitude and density amplitude implicitly depend on the electron temperature, known as Coffey's limit. In this paper, the breaking of large amplitude freely running electron plasma wave in a homogeneous warm plasma where electron's velocity distribution is Maxwellian has been studied numerically using 1D Particle in Cell (PIC) simulation method. It is found that Coffey's propagating wave solutions, which was derived using a "water-bag" distribution for electrons, also represent propagating waves in a Maxwellian plasma. Coffey's wave breaking limit is also verified by loading Maxwellian velocity distributions of different initial temperatures. A clear correspondence between wave breaking and particle trapping is presented. Our simulation results are also compared with the experimental results of B. S. Bauer, A. Y. Wong, V. K. Decyk and G. Resenthal [Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 3706 (1992)].