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Magnetic-field generation and wave-breaking in collisionless plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1998

F. CALIFANO
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Firenze, and Istituto Nazionale Fisica della Materia, Sez. A, Università di Pisa, Italy
R. PRANDI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica, Università di Torino, Italy
F. PEGORARO
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, and Istituto Nazionale Fisica della Materia, Sez. A, Università di Pisa, Italy
S. V. BULANOV
Affiliation:
General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Abstract

We discuss the nonlinear evolution of the Weibel instability of two counter-streaming electron beams in the relativistic and non-relativistic regimes in the framework of a two-fluid description. We show the presence of two singularities per wavelength, responsible for the formation of very large density spikes. In the case of non-symmetric beams, we observe the compressive wave-break of the fast electron population, and the generation of a dipolar magnetic field associated with a central fast thin current and two larger slow return currents. This structure is very similar to those observed in PIC simulations of laser-plasma interactions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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