Instability Growth Rate Dependence on Input Parameters During the Beam–Target Plasma Interaction

Abstract

The two-stream instability without magnetic field is described by the well-known Buneman dispersion relation. For more complicated situations we need to use the Generalized Buneman Dispersion Relation derived by Kulhánek, Bren, and Bohata in 2011, which is a polynomial equation of 8th order. The maximal value of the imaginary part of the individual dispersion branches ?n(k) is very interesting from the physical point of view. It represents the instability growth rate which is responsible for the turbulence mode onset and subsequent reconnection on the ion radius scale accompanied by strong plasma thermalization. The paper presented here is focused on the instability growth rate dependence on various input parameters, such as magnitude of a magnetic field and sound velocity. The results are presented in well-arranged plots and can be used for a survey of the plasma parameters close to which the strong energy transfer and thermalization between the beam and the target occurs.