Electron beam propagation and magnetic structure formation in a strongly magnetized, collisional plasma

Abstract

Collisional effects on relativistic electron beam transport through high-density magnetized plasma are studied numerically and theoretically. An electron beam injected into cold high-density plasma induces the Weibel instability generating magnetic field components transverse to the direction of beam propagation. This field scatters the beam electrons. While an applied magnetic field suppresses the instability, collisions in the background plasma enhance the instability. This interesting result is verified by a dispersion relation derived based on a set of two fluid equations. We give a physical interpretation using a simple theoretical model. We also analyze the nonlinear evolution of the collisional magnetized beam-plasma interaction using a hybrid simulation code. As a result, it is found that a large scale structure is produced in the collisional plasma by an enhanced induced longitudinal electric field.