Evolution of the fastest-growing relativistic mixed mode instability driven by a tenuous plasma beam in one and two dimensions
- Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum (Germany)
Particle-in-cell simulations confirm here that a mixed plasma mode is the fastest growing when a highly relativistic tenuous electron-proton beam interacts with an unmagnetized plasma. The mixed modes grow faster than the filamentation and two-stream modes in simulations with beam Lorentz factors {gamma} of 4, 16, and 256, and are responsible for thermalizing the electrons. The mixed modes are followed to their saturation for the case of {gamma}=4 and electron phase space holes are shown to form in the bulk plasma, while the electron beam becomes filamentary. The initial saturation is electrostatic in nature in the considered one- and two-dimensional geometries. Simulations performed with two different particle-in-cell simulation codes evidence that a finite grid instability couples energy into high-frequency electromagnetic waves, imposing simulation constraints.
- OSTI ID:
- 20860359
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 13, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2390687; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
TWO-STREAM-LIKE INSTABILITY IN DILUTE HOT RELATIVISTIC BEAMS AND ASTROPHYSICAL RELATIVISTIC SHOCKS
Temperature-dependent Saturation of Weibel-type Instabilities in Counter-streaming Plasmas