Linear and nonlinear wave propagation in weakly relativistic quantum plasmas

Abstract

We consider a recently derived kinetic model for weakly relativistic quantum plasmas. We find that that the effects of spin-orbit interaction and Thomas precession may alter the linear dispersion relation for a magnetized plasma in case of high plasma densities and/or strong magnetic fields. Furthermore, the ponderomotive force induced by an electromagnetic pulse is studied for an unmagnetized plasma. It turns out that for this case the spin-orbit interaction always give a significant contribution to the quantum part of the ponderomotive force.