Electromagnetic instability of an anisotropic relativistic plasma in the context of the evolution of galactic and intergalactic high-energy particle sources

The electromagnetic instability of a relativistic space plasma is considered. The instability manifests itself during transverse oscillations in an anisotropic plasma either when the wavelength is sufficiently long and the velocity distribution is fixed or when the plasma is strongly anisotropic and the wavelength is fixed. The critical wavenumber is estimated for a velocity distribution in the form of an oblate ellipsoid of revolution.