Nonlinear propagation and localization of intense electromagnetic waves in relativistic plasmas

Abstract

An analytical formulation is presented for envelope-type solutions of intense polarized electromagnetic waves propagating in cold unmagnetized plasmas. Induced charge separation is fully taken into account and nonlinearities due to mass variation of both electrons and ions are included. Localized solutions are found for the case of subluminous wave phase velocity. The spectrum of solutions (dependence of wave amplitude on the free parameters in the theory, phase velocity and frequency) is discussed and compared with previous analytical and numerical results.