Effect of temperature on the wave breaking amplitude of nonlinear relativistic strong plasma waves

Abstract

The wave‐breaking amplitude of a strong nonlinear plasma wave has been determined in a warm plasma. Pseudopotential technique has been adopted to describe the wave‐breaking phenomena in such plasma. The solution is obtained with the consideration that the phase velocity of the plasma wave is equal to the velocity of light in vacuum. This assumption is justified since the wave which is excited usually by the relativistic charged particle bunches or laser pulses has phase speed very close to the speed of light in vacuum. The investigation shows that the breaking amplitude decreases with the increase of the electron temperature. Furthermore, the wavelength of the plasma wave is seen to decrease as we increase the electron temperature. The obtained results have relevance in the astrophysical situation as well as in the field of plasma based charged particle acceleration process.