New Paradigm for the Self-Consistent Modeling of Wave-Particle and Wave-Wave Interactions in the Saturation of Electromagnetically Driven Parametric Instabilities

We introduce two new and complementary simulation models, which have domains of quantitative agreement, for the self-consistent evolution of the electron distribution, Langmuir decay cascades, and Langmuir collapse. In our reduced-description particle-in-cell (RPIC) simulations, Langmuir decay cascades and cycles of collapse are seen for the first time in particle simulation. The velocity distribution in our Zakharov model is evolved using quasilinear diffusion plus Cerenkov emission loss and agrees in expected domains with the RPIC results. These techniques promise to solve long known problems in the standard simulations of laser-plasma instabilities. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}