Collective Modes and Energy Transfer in Two-Temperature-Plasmas

Electron-ion collisions are one of the main processes that drive the relaxation towards equilibrium. Most theoretical approaches of the connected energy transfer consider only independent binary collisions (see, e.g., Refs. [1-3]); collective excitations are neglected. Although decoupled electron-ion modes have only small effects [4], Dharmawardana & Perrot found strongly reduced energy transfer rates if coupled modes are considered [5]. The influence of such coupled modes is here studied on the well-understood level of the random phase approximation (RPA). Coupled Collective Modes – The collective behaviour of weakly coupled electron-ion systems is described by the retarded dielectric function in RPA [6]