English

Electromagnetic ghosts in pair plasmas

Plasma Physics 2026-01-21 v1

Abstract

Collisions of two weakly nonlinear, a01a_0 \ll 1, counter-propagating EM pulses in pair plasma leave behind a long-surviving collection of localized waves, {\it an electromagnetic ghost}. Waves are trapped (localized) by the random large density fluctuations created by the beat between the pulses. The process is similar to random plasma density grating and/or Anderson-like wave localization. Structures survive for long, mesoscale times, while the EM energy slowly bleeds through high density walls of the density trap. Large guide magnetic field, ωB\omega_B \geq few ω\omega, suppresses the formation of the ghosts.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.13175,
  title  = {Electromagnetic ghosts in pair plasmas},
  author = {Maxim Lyutikov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.13175},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:10:56.716Z