Simulation study of collisional effects on the propagation of a hot electron beam and generation of Langmuir turbulence for application in type III radio bursts

Abstract

AbstractThe propagation of a localized beam (cloud) of hot electrons and generation of Langmuir waves are investigated using numerical simulation of the quasi-linear equations in the presence of collisional effects for electrons and beam-driven Langmuir waves. It is found that inclusion of the collisional damping of Langmuir waves has remarkable effects on the evolution of the electron distribution function and the spectral density of Langmuir waves, while the effect of collision term for electrons is almost negligible. It is also found that in the presence of collisional damping of Langmuir waves, the relaxation of the beam distribution function in velocity space is retarded and the Langmuir waves are strongly suppressed. The average propagation velocity of the beam is not constant and is larger when collisional damping of Langmuir waves is considered. The collisional damping for electrons does not affect the upper boundary of the plateau but the collisional damping of Langmuir waves pushes it towards small velocities. It is also found that the local velocity of the beam and its width decrease when the collisional damping of Langmuir waves is included.