Spontaneous synchrotron emission from a plasma with an energetic runaway electron tail

Abstract

The emissivity of spontaneous synchrotron radiation is computed for a plasma consisting of a background thermal plasma in addition to an energetic runaway electron component. The analysis is performed for both the ordinary and extraordinary modes, for frequencies in the vicinity of the electron plasma frequency and the higher harmonics of the electron gyrofrequency, and for ωe≲Ωe (where ωe and Ωe are the electron plasma and cyclotron frequencies, respectively). The relativistic gyroresonance with the runaway electrons is found to result in a level of spontaneous emission which, for frequencies in the neighborhood of ωe, is significantly enhanced over the thermal radiation.