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Further observations on resonance cones in non‐Maxwellian plasmas
Author(s) -
Thiemann Heinz,
Singh Nagendra
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/rs018i004p00615
Subject(s) - plasma , resonance (particle physics) , physics , atomic physics , beam (structure) , electron , electron density , magnetic field , population , optics , nuclear physics , demography , quantum mechanics , sociology
Resonance cones in a hot magnetized non‐Maxwellian plasma are investigated. The non‐Maxwellian nature of the plasma is described by two electron populations: a background population and an electron beam with variable beam parameters. It is shown that the Cerenkov cone occurs at angles much smaller than the group velocity cone angle θ c for the lower branch of the oblique resonance cone irrespective of the magnitude of the biasing magnetic field. When the beam velocity is sufficiently large with respect to the thermal velocity of the background electrons, a characteristic wave pattern appears outside the resonance cones. It is shown that this pattern occurs because of a propagating wave for θ c ≲ θ ≲ 180°‐θ c . When the beam density is low ( n B ≈ 1%), the upstream resonance cone structure remains nearly unmodified, and it can be used for plasma diagnostics to deduce electron temperature and density using theoretical results based on a Maxwellian plasma.