Nonlinear Landau damping of wave envelopes in a quantum plasma

The nonlinear theory of Landau damping of electrostatic wave envelopes (WEs) is revisited in a quantum electron-positron pair plasma. Starting from a Wigner-Moyal equation coupled to the Poisson equation and applying the multiple scale technique, we derive a nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation which governs the evolution of electrostatic WEs. It is shown that the coefficients of the NLS equation, including the nonlocal nonlinear term, which appears due to the resonant particles having a group velocity of the WEs, are significantly modified by the particle dispersion. The effects of the quantum parameter H (the ratio of the plasmon energy to the thermal energy densities), associated with the particle dispersion, are examined on the Landau damping rate of carrier waves, as well as on the modulational instability of WEs. It is found that the Landau damping rate and the decay rate of the solitary wave amplitude are greatly reduced compared to their classical values (H = 0). Published by AIP Publishing.