New insight into the dispersion characteristics of electrostatic waves in ultradense plasmas: electron degeneracy and relativistic effects

The dispersion properties of electrostatic waves propagating in ultrahigh density plasma are investigated, from first principles, in a one-dimensional geometry. A self-consistent multispecies plasma fluid model is taken as starting point, incorporating electron degeneracy and relativistic effects. The inertia of all plasma components is retained, for rigor. Exact expressions are obtained for the oscillation frequency, and the phase and group velocity of electrostatic waves is computed. Two branches are obtained, viz. an acoustic low-frequency dispersion branch and an upper (optic-like) branch: these may be interpreted as ion-acoustic and electron plasma (Langmuir) waves, respectively, as in classical plasmas, yet bearing an explicit correction in account of relativistic and electron degeneracy effects. The electron plasma frequency is shown to reduce significantly at high values of the density, due to the relativistic effect. The result is compared with approximate models, wherein either electrons are considered inertialess (low-frequency ionic scale) or ions are considered to be stationary (Langmuir-wave limit). (paper)