Kinetic description of intense nonneutral beam propagation through a periodic solenoidal focusing field based on the nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell equations

Abstract

A kinetic description of intense nonneutral beam propagation through a periodic solenoidal focusing field B{sup sol}({rvec x}) is developed. The analysis is carried out for a thin beam with characteristic beam radius r{sub b} {much_lt} S, and directed axial momentum {gamma}{sub b}m{beta}{sub b}c (in the z-direction) large compared with the transverse momentum and axial momentum spread of the beam particles. Making use of the nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell equations for general distribution function f{sub b}({rvec x},{rvec p},t) and self-consistent electrostatic field consistent with the thin-beam approximation, the kinetic model is used to investigate detailed beam equilibrium properties for a variety of distribution functions. Examples are presented both for the case of a uniform solenoidal focusing field B{sub z}(z) = B{sub 0} = const. and for the case of a periodic solenoidal focusing field B{sub z}(z + S) = B{sub z}(z). The nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell equations are simplified in the thin-beam approximation, and an alternative Hamiltonian formulation is developed that is particularly well-suited to intense beam propagation in periodic focusing systems. Based on the present analysis, the Vlasov-Maxwell description of intense nonneutral beam propagation through a periodic solenoidal focusing field {rvec B}{sup sol}({rvec x}) is found to be remarkably tractable and rich in physics content. The Vlasov-Maxwell formalism developed here can be extended in a straightforward manner to investigate detailed stability behavior for perturbations about specific choices of beam equilibria.