One-dimensional electromagnetic solitons in a hot electron-positron plasma

The set of relativistic hydrodynamic equations for a two-species plasma is derived with the aim to investigate the interaction between arbitrary amplitude electromagnetic (EM) fields and hot plasmas. The equations are then specialized in order to study the existence of solitonlike EM distributions in a one-dimensional electron-positron plasma. It is found that: (i) a nonzero temperature makes possible the existence of nondrifting soliton-like solutions, otherwise impossible in a strictly cold plasma; (ii) in an ultrarelativistic plasma, extremely large concentrations of EM energy densities can be achieved; (iii) correspondingly, the temperature profile of the background plasma develops strong nonuniformities. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.