Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-collisionless-plasma-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/1/e/solution

An electrostatic plasma wave has . In the absence of externally imposed charge density, the Gauss law for the magnetized cold-plasma dielectric tensor is . Consequently,
The antisymmetric terms of the magnetized cold-plasma dielectric tensor cancel in this scalar contraction. For oblique propagation this is the leading longitudinal condition in the large-refractive index approximation; a small transverse electric field is generally required by the full Maxwell equations at finite . For parallel propagation an exactly longitudinal solution exists: , hence . It coincides with the limit of the finite-coefficient plasma wave resonance condition in c. At exactly , factors out of the transverse dispersion relation, leaving the independent plasma oscillation rather than an isolated divergence of the transverse branches.

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