Fluid description of collisional current-filamentation instability of warm-dilute electron beam

Abstract

The non-relativistic fluid description of collisional current-filamentation instability (CFI) of warm-dilute electron beam interacting with stationary cold-dense plasma is investigated in the presence of space charge effect (SCE). Illustrating the equilibrium configuration, the linear perturbation theory yields dispersion relation (DR). Numerical analysis of the obtained DR shows that, considering the thermal effect (finite temperature of electron beam), CFI does not saturate with perturbation wave number but it fades out for wave numbers larger than the cut-off wave number. Examining the maximum growth rate and unstable wavelength region for various system parameters, the pressure and current-driven instability as well as collision-driven stability of collisional CFI and CFI-SCE are completely investigated. The results of the present investigation will greatly contribute to the understanding of the first phase of shock formation, as well as magnetized field amplification in astrophysical environments and laboratory experiments, where the collisional current-filamentation instability can play a central role in the colliding system.