Electromagnetic parametric instabilities in an ultra-relativistic plasma

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Abstract
The parametric decay of an intense, coherent electromagnetic wave into subluminous electrostatic waves and scattered electromagnetic waves in a homogeneous plasma is studied, with particular attention to the effects of relativistic electron temperature. A mode coupling formalism is developed, from which growth rates for stimulated Raman and Brillouin backscattering in one dimension, and for modulational Raman forward scattering, are derived.