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Kinematic Mechanism of Plasma Electron Hole Transverse Instability
1Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Abstract:
It is shown through multidimensional particle-in-cell simulations that at least in Maxwellian background plasmas the long-wavelength transverse instability of plasma electron holes is caused not by the previously proposed focusing of trapped particles but instead by kinematic jetting of marginally passing electrons. The mechanism is explained and heuristic analytic estimates obtained which agree with the growth rates and transverse wave numbers observed in the simulations.
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