The whistler instability at relativistic energies

Abstract

The effects of a relativistic electron population on the temporal and spatial growth rates of the whistler instability are considered. It is found that relativistic effects tend to reduce the temporal growth rate of the whistler but are not sufficient, by themselves, to completely stabilize the mode. Relativistic effects are also found to reduce the volume of parameter space over which temporal growth can occur; the residual rate of spatial growth, however, is substantial. The results obtained are applied to two plasmas with significant relativistic electron content—the ELMO Bumpy Torus and the Tandem Mirror Experiments.