Radiation and ionization by relativistic electron beams

Abstract

The electromagnetic streaming instability yields substantial growth for propagation at large angles to the beam. Transverse Landau damping suppression of the mode is calculated for a variety of beam parameters. The saturated stage of the instability (bunching in position space) can produce large electric fields oscillating at the plasma frequency in the vicinity of the beam. These fields can cause further ionization, and define the final channel radius. Comparison with experiment is satisfactory.