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Kelvin-Mach Wake In A Two-Dimensional Fermi Sea, Eugene B. Kolomeisky, Joseph P. Straley

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The dispersion law for plasma oscillations in a two-dimensional electron gas in the hydrodynamic approximation interpolates between Ω ∝ √q and Ω ∝ q dependences as the wave vector q increases. As a result, downstream of a charged impurity in the presence of a uniform supersonic electric current flow, a wake pattern of induced charge density and potential is formed whose geometry is controlled by the Mach number M. For 1 < M ≤ √2, the wake consists of transverse wave fronts confined within a sector, whose angle is given by the classic Mach condition. An additional wake of …