Electrostatic instabilities in current-carrying and counterstreaming plasmas

Abstract

The maximum growth rate of longitudinal plasma waves of small amplitude in a current-carrying plasma and in two counterstreaming plasmas is evaluated as a function of the drift velocity and the electron-to-ion temperature ratio. A non-linear dispersion equation is derived from the collisionless Boltzmann equation, using an iteration procedure, and is used to predict the upper limit to the instability in a current-carrying plasma.