Heating of a Fully Ionized Plasma Column by a Relativistic Electron Beam

Abstract

A magnetized plasma column (${n}_{p}<~6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{13}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$) is heated by the injection of an intense relativistic electron beam along the magnetic field. The energy per electron-ion pair transferred to the plasma increases linearly with the beam-to-plasma density ratio $\frac{{n}_{b}}{{n}_{p}}$. The electron heating is attributed to the electron-electron beam-plasma interaction while the energetic ions are produced by an electrostatic acceleration. After heating, the plasma column oscillates radially at a frequency proportional to $\frac{B}{{{n}_{p}}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$.