Electromagnetic ghosts in pair plasmas
Plasma Physics
2026-01-21 v1
Abstract
Collisions of two weakly nonlinear, , 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, few , 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}
}