Electromagnetic instabilities in a relativistic plasma
Relativistic effects play essential roles in many astrophysical phenomena. We study micro instabilities drivn by various types of unstable plasma distributions, such as the temperature anisotropy, beam, and the ring distributions, with particular emphasis on the roles of the relativistic effects. Both the linear theory and the particle simulations suggest that, in addition to the usual electromagnetic cyclotron mode, the ring distribution generates a wave mode around the wave number k=0, only when the relativistic effects are included. We are currently discussing the physical mechanism of this instability, the wave saturation level, and long time evolution of these waves.

Generation and subsequent nonlinear evolution of electromagnetic plasma waves driven by relativistic ring distribution.

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