Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 31, 2026

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
Wave dispersion in a counterstreaming, relativistic thermal, magnetized, electron-positron plasma
1School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
Abstract:
The dispersion equation is analyzed for waves in a strongly magnetized, electron-positron plasma in which counterstreaming electrons and positrons have a relativistic thermal distribution in their respective rest frames, for propagation parallel to the magnetic field. We derive the response tensor for the medium, demonstrate the dispersion curves for different temperatures, and discuss the differences from the cold-plasma case. Application to the case of pulsar magnetospheres is discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Plane Electromagnetic Waves I
The EM field is assumed to be a...
Electromagnetic Waves
Propagation Speed of Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic Waves in Matter
Consider the electromagnetic wave passing through a dielectric medium. In such a case, Maxwell's equations get modified. In Ampere's law, ε0 , the dielectric permittivity of free space is replaced with ε, the permittivity of dielectric. Also, the vacuum permeability μ0 is replaced by the permeability of the medium, μ.
Furthermore, the...
Standing Electromagnetic Waves
Suppose a sheet of a perfect conductor is placed in the yz-plane, and a linearly polarized electromagnetic wave traveling in the...
Electromagnetic Wave Equation
However, although electric and magnetic fields were first introduced as mathematical constructs to simplify the description of mutual forces between charges, a natural question emerges from Maxwell's equations: What...

