Abstract
A variational calculation of the current induced in a plasma by fast beam particles is presented. A new energy polynomial expansion of the classical Spitzer function is obtained and used to derive an accurate analytic expression for the beam-induced current j/sub parallel/, which includes the effects of electron-electron collisions and is valid for all values of anti v/sub b/ = v/sub b//v/sub e/ and effective charge anti Z. This analytic result is in excellent agreement with previous numerical calculations. An accurate rational form for the beam-induced current as a function of beam velocity is obtained by patching the large and small anti v/sub b/ asymptotic expansions of j/sub parallel/.
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