Impossibility of Zakharov's short-wavelength modulational instability in plasmas with intense Langmuir turbulence

Abstract

An analysis of two experimental observations of Langmuir wave collapse is performed. The corresponding experimental data are shown as evidence against the occurrence of collapses. The physical reason preventing the collapses is found to be the nonresonant electron diffusion in momentum. In this process, plasma thermal electrons are efficiently heated at the expense of wave energy, therefore intense collisionless wave dissipation takes place. The basic reason for the underestimation of nonresonant electron diffusion in the traditional theory is shown to be the substitution of a real plasma by a plasma probabilistic ensemble.A study of nonresonant electron diffusion refraining from ensemble substitution is performed. It is shown that its intensity is sufficient for suppression of Zakharov's short-wavelength modulational plasma instability [Zakharov, V. E., Sov. Phys. JETP35, 908 (1972)]. This explains the nonoccurrence of Zakharov's Langmuir wave collapse in experiments.