Abstract

The nonlinear evolution of a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave in an electron-positron plasma propagating along a constant background magnetic field is considered, by studying its parametric decays. Relativistic effects, of the particle motion in the wave field and of the plasma temperature, are included to obtain the dispersion relation of the decays. The exact dispersion relation of the pump wave has been previously calculated within the context of a relativistic fluid theory and presents two branches: an electromagnetic and an Alfvén one. We investigate the parametric decays for the pump wave in these two branches, including the anomalous dispersion zone of the Alfvén branch where the group velocity is negative. We solve the nonlinear dispersion relation for different pump wave amplitudes and plasma temperatures, finding various resonant and nonresonant wave couplings. We are able to identify these couplings and study their behavior as we modify the plasma parameters. Some of these couplings are suppressed for larger amplitudes or temperatures. We also find two kinds of modulational instabilities, one involving two sideband daughter waves and another involving a forward-propagating electroacoustic mode and a sideband daughter wave. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.