Effects of group velocity and multi-plasmon resonances on the modulation of Langmuir waves in a degenerate plasma

Abstract: We study the nonlinear wave modulation of Langmuir waves (LWs) in a fully degenerate plasma. Using the Wigner-Moyal equation coupled to the Poisson equation and the multiple scale expansion technique, a modified nonlocal nonlinear Schr{\"{o}}dinger (NLS) equation is derived which governs the evolution of LW envelopes in degenerate plasmas. The nonlocal nonlinearity in the NLS equation appears due to the group velocity and multi-plasmon resonances, i.e., resonances induced by the simultaneous particle absorption of multiple wave quanta. We focus on the regime where the resonant velocity of electrons is larger than the Fermi velocity and thereby the linear Landau damping is forbidden. As a result, the nonlinear wave-particle resonances due to the group velocity and multi-plasmon processes are the dominant mechanisms for wave-particle interaction. It is found that in contrast to classical or semiclassical plasmas, the group velocity resonance does not necessarily give rise the wave damping in the strong quantum regime where $ \hbar k\sim mv_{F}$ with $\hbar$ denoting the reduced Planck's constant, $m$ the electron mass and $v_F$ the Fermi velocity, however, the three-plasmon process plays a dominant role in the nonlinear Landau damping of wave envelopes. In this regime, the decay rate of the wave amplitude is also found to be higher compared to that in the modest quantum regime where the multi-plasmon effects are forbidden.