General equations are derived for the interaction of four waves to second order (i.e. two triplets with two waves common to both). The solutions are analysed under various initial conditions and it is shown that the weaker triplet (as measured by the coupling constraints) is stabilized by the stronger one against explosive instabilities, whereas the converse does not happen. It is further found that under certain circumstances one of the common waves may act as a ‘catalyst’, remaining fixed in amplitude, while the other waves oscillate or even grow exponentially. This work extends the treatment of Karplyuk, Oraevskii & Pavlenko to include the possibility of negative energy waves.
Resonances of a plasma driven into a weakly non-linear régime are investigated by two different models.(1) A cold plasma driven by an extended wave source is considered. It is found that resonances can occur at fractions as well as multiples of the normal mode resonances. For the fractional resonances the response amplitude grows linearly with time, whereas for the harmonic resonances it grows exponentially with time.(2) An unmagnetized Vlasov plasma is excited by a two-grid source below the plasma frequency. A resonance is shown to occur when the driving frequency approaches one half the plasma frequency. It is argued that such non-linear resonances may be responsible for the Alouette II observations of resonances at fractions of the plasma frequency.
The parametric effect of an applied uniform oscillating electric field on both unmagnetized and magnetized plasmas is investigated. By using a perturbation method of multitime scales, we have shown that parametric excitation of transverse waves propagating obliquely to the applied field in an unmagnetized plasma is possible. The growth rate of the excited waves reaches a maximum for transverse propagation. Ion motion does not change the character of the parametric excitation except by reducing the growth rate. In a magnetized plasma it is shown that excitation of a pair of waves is possible where one is a Langmuir wave, propagating along the magnetic field and the other is a circularly polarized transverse wave propagating in the opposite direction.
The Vlasov—Poisson equations are reformulated by applying an arbitrary transformation to the velocity variable in such a way that perturbation theory of the transformed equations does not exhibit the customary secularity in time (or space) in second or higher order. The lowest order approximation of the new formulation is discussed and compared with conventional results. The source of the non-uniformity appears to be the divergence of Particle trajectories as calculated by perturbation methods, from the exact ones after long times. The transformation which allows one to follow the particle trajectories is a transformation to a frame of reference moving with a plasma test particle in the self-consistent field.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.