注入到外电场的正负电子对的静电不稳定性

出于脉冲星中粒子加速问题,讨论外电场中注入的正负电子对静电不稳定性.对很强的电场,不能在等离子体振荡尺度的0阶分布函数忽略空间变化效应.假设在加速(减速)电子(正电子)的恒定外电场以四维速度u0＞0单能地注入电子对.通过解决场的线性扰动和对的分布函数,发现了一个新型不稳定性.u0和外电场确定的制动时标与等离子体的时标之比R描述不稳定性的性质.这种情况下,增长率是等离子体频率的几倍.

Electrostatic Instability in Positron-Electron Pairs Injected in an External Electric Field

Motivated by the particle acceleration problem in pulsars, it is numerically investigated for electrostatic instability of electron-positron pairs injected in an external electric field. The electric field is expected to be so strong that effects of spatial variation cannot be neglected in the 0-th order distribution functions on the scale of the plasma oscillation. The pairs are assume to be injected mono-energetically with 4-velocity u0 > 0 in a constant external electric field by which electrons (positrons) are accelerated (decelerated). By solving linear perturbations of the field and distribution functions of pairs, we find a new type of electrostatic instability. The properties of the instability are characterized by u0 and the ratio R of the braking time-scale (determined by the external electric field) to the time-scale of the plasma oscillation. The growth rate is as large as a few times the plasma frequency.