Screening and plasma oscillations in an electron gas in the hydrodynamic approximation

A hydrodynamic theory of screening in a generic electron gas of arbitrary dimensionality is given that encompasses all previously studied cases and clarifies the predictions of the many-body approach. We find that long-wavelength plasma oscillations are classical phenomena with quantum-mechanical effects playing no explicit role. The character of the oscillations is solely dictated by the dimensionality of the electron system and its equation of state in the neutral limit. Materials whose excitations are described by the Dirac dispersion law-such as doped graphene or a Weyl semimetal-are no exception to this rule.