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Electromagnetic responses of relativistic electrons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2018

C. A. A. de Carvalho  and
D. M. Reis
C. A. A. de Carvalho*
Affiliation:
Diretoria-Geral de Desenvolvimento Nuclear e Tecnológico da Marinha – DGDNTM, Rua da Ponte, Ed. 23 do AMRJ, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 20091-000, Brazil Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Caixa Postal 68528, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 21945-972, Brazil
D. M. Reis
Affiliation:
Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas – CBPF, Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22290-180, Brazil
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

We compute the real and imaginary parts of the electric permittivities and magnetic permeabilities of relativistic electrons from quantum electrodynamics at finite temperatures and densities, for weak fields, neglecting electron–electron interactions. For non-zero temperatures, electromagnetic responses are reduced to one-dimensional integrals computed numerically. For zero temperature, we find analytic expressions for both their real/dispersive and imaginary/absorptive parts. As an application of our results, we obtain the dispersion relation for longitudinal electric plasmons. Present calculations support our recent claim that, at low frequencies and long wavelengths, the system will exhibit simultaneously negative electric and magnetic responses.

Keywords

astrophysical plasmasplasma propertiesquantum plasma
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 84 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , 905840112
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

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