EFFECTS OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE RADIATION ON ELECTROSTATIC PLASMA-WAVES

The effects of black-body radiation emitted from a high temperature ra diation source on electrostatic plasma wave characteristics in a relat ively cold tenuous plasma are theoretically investigated. The ponderom otive force of the photons perturbed by the electron density fluctuati on is taken into account. It is shown that the effect is in general ve ry small, hut has a logarithmic singularity which corresponds to a rad iation induced zero-sound. A significant effect can be expected in a n arrow frequency range in which the zero-sound couples with the electro n plasma wave.