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Resonant particle instabilities in a uniform magnetic field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

C. F. Kennel
Affiliation:
International Centre for Theoretical Physics
H. V. Wong
Affiliation:
International Atomic Energy Agency, Trieste

Abstract

We present here a simple expression for the resonant particle growth rate of arbitrary plasma waves propagating at an arbitrary angle to a uniform magnetic field in a spatially homogeneous plasma. We then are able to see that cyclotron harmonic wave-particle resonances contribute to instability when the resonant particle pitch angle distributions are anisotropic, while the phase velocity resonances of the Landau form are unstable to beam type phenomena. A sufficient condition for resonant particle stability is that particle distributions be isotropic and monotonically decreasing with increasing energy everywhere.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

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References

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