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We use a recently developed a kinetic model derived from the Dirac equation to study electromagnetic wave propagation in superstrong magnetic fields, such as in magnetars, where relativistic Landau quantization is prominent. The leading contribution to the conductivity tensor in such a plasma is calculated. It is found that the electron Hall current has an anomalous contribution, in the quantum relativistic regime, where the effective particle energy has a significant contribution from the diamagnetic and Zeeman energy. As a result, a new quantum resonance frequency appears, and the dispersion relation for the left- and right-hand polarized modes are strongly modified for long and moderate wavelengths. The implications for magnetar physics are discussed.

In this paper, a phase-space description of electron-positron pair-creation will be applied, based on a Wigner transformation of the Klein-Gordon equation. The resulting theory is similar in many respects to the equations from the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism. However, in the former case, all physics related to particle spin is neglected. In the present paper we compare the pair-production rate in vacuum and plasmas, with and without spin effects, in order to evaluate the accuracy and applicability of the spinless approximation. It is found that for modest frequencies of the electromagnetic field, the pair production rate of the Klein-Gordon theory is a good approximation to the Dirac theory, provided the matter density is small enough for Pauli blocking to be neglected, and a factor of two related to the difference in the vacuum energy density is compensated for.  

Strong field physics close to or above the Schwinger limit are typically studied with vacuum as initial condition or by considering test particle dynamics. However, with a plasma present initially, quantum relativistic mechanisms such as Schwinger pair creation are complemented by classical plasma nonlinearities. In this work we use the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism to study the interplay between classical and quantum mechanical mechanisms in the regime of ultrastrong electric fields. In particular, the effects of initial density and temperature on the plasma oscillation dynamics are determined. Finally, comparisons with competing mechanisms such as radiation reaction and Breit-Wheeler pair production are made.

We study the contribution from the electron spin to the ponderomotive force, using a quantum kinetic model, including the spin-orbit correction. Specifically, we derive an analytical expression for the ponderomotive force, applicable for electrostatic waves propagating parallel to an external magnetic field. To evaluate the expression, we focus on the case of Langmuir waves and on the case of the spin resonance wave mode, where the classical and spin contributions to the ponderomotive force are compared. Somewhat surprisingly, depending on the parameter regime, we find that the spin contribution to the ponderomotive force may dominate for the Langmuir wave, whereas the classical contribution can dominate for the spin resonance mode.

We study the evolution of electrostatic plasma waves, using the relativistic Vlasov equation extended by the Landau-Lifshitz radiation reaction, accounting for the back-reaction due to the emission of single particle Larmor radiation. In particular, the Langmuir wave damping is calculated as a function of wave number, initial temperature, and initial electric field amplitude. Moreover, the background distribution function loses energy in the process, and we calculate the cooling rate as a function of initial temperature and initial wave amplitude. Finally, we investigate how the relative magnitude of wave damping and background cooling varies with the initial parameters. In particular, it is found that the relative contribution to the energy loss associated with background cooling decreases slowly with the initial wave amplitude.

We have studied the linear dispersion relation for Langmuir waves in plasmas of very high density, based on the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism. The vacuum contribution to the physical observables leads to ultraviolet divergences, which are removed by a charge renormalization. The remaining vacuum contribution is small and is in agreement with previously derived expressions for the time-dependent vacuum polarization. The main new feature of the theory is a damping mechanism similar to Landau damping, but where the plasmon energy gives rise to creation of electron-positron pairs. The dependence of the damping rate (pair-creation rate) on the wavenumber, temperature, and density is analyzed. Finally, the analytical results of linearized theory are compared with numerical solutions.

As is well known, for plasmas of high density and modest temperature, the classical kinetic theory needs to be extended. Such extensions can be based on the Schrödinger Hamiltonian, applying a Wigner transform of the density matrix, in which case the Vlasov equation is replaced by the celebrated Wigner–Moyal equation. Extending the treatment to more complicated models, we investigate aspects such as spin dynamics (based on the Pauli Hamiltonian), exchange effects (using the Hartree–Fock approximation), Landau quantization, and quantum relativistic theory. In the relativistic theory, we first study cases where the field strength is well-beyond Schwinger critical field. Both weakly relativistic theory (gamma factors close to unity) and strongly relativistic theory are investigated, using assumptions that allow for a separation of electron and positron states. Finally, we study the so-called Dirac–Heisenberg–Wigner (DHW) formalism, which is a fully quantum relativistic theory, allowing for field strengths of the order of the Schwinger critical field or even larger. As a result, the quantum kinetic theory is extended to cover phenomena such as Zitterbewegung and electron–positron pair creation. While the focus of this review is on the quantum kinetic models, we illustrate the theories with various applications throughout the manuscript.

Wave-particle interaction (WPI) is one of the most fundamental processes in plasma physics in which one most prominent example is the Landau damping. Owing to its excellent energy-exchange mechanism, the WPI has gained increasing interest not only from theoretical points of view, but also its many important applications including plasma heating and plasma acceleration. In this review work, we present theoretical backgrounds of linear and nonlinear wave-particle interactions in quantum plasmas. Specifically, we focus on the wave-particle interactions for homogeneous plasma waves (i.e., waves with infinite extent rather than a localized pulse) as well as for propagating electrostatic waves in the weak and strong quantum regimes to demonstrate the modifications of several classical features including those associated with resonant and trapped particles. Finally, the future perspectives of WPI in quantum plasmas are presented.

The linear and nonlinear theories of electron-acoustic waves (EAWs) are studied in a partially degenerate quantum plasma with two-temperature electrons and stationary ions. The initial equilibrium of electrons is assumed to be given by the Fermi-Dirac distribution at finite temperature. By employing the multi-scale asymptotic expansion technique to the one-dimensional Wigner-Moyal and Poisson equations, it is shown that the effects of multi-plasmon resonances lead to a modified complex Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation with a new nonlocal nonlinearity. In addition to giving rise to a nonlocal nonlinear term, the wave-particle resonance also modifies the local nonlinear coupling coefficient of the KdV equation. The latter is shown to conserve the number of particles; however, the wave energy decays with time. A careful analysis shows that the two-plasmon resonance is the dominant mechanism for nonlinear Landau damping of EAWs. An approximate soliton solution of the KdV equation is also obtained, and it is shown that the nonlinear Landau damping causes the wave amplitude to decay slowly with time compared to the classical theory.

We derive a system of coupled partial differential equations for the equal-time Wigner function in an arbitrary strong electromagnetic field using the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism. In the electrostatic limit, we present a system of four coupled partial differential equations, which are completed by Ampères law. This electrostatic system is further studied for two different cases. In the first case, we consider linearized wave propagation in a plasma accounting for the nonzero vacuum expectation values. We then derive the dispersion relation and compare it with well-known limiting cases. In the second case, we consider Schwinger pair production using the local density approximation to allow for analytical treatment. The dependence of the pair production rate on the perpendicular momentum is investigated and it turns out that the spread of the produced pairs along with perpendicular momentum depends on the strength of the applied electric field.