Heating of a Fully Ionized Plasma Column by a Relativistic Electron Beam

A magnetized plasma column ($n_p<~6\times {10}^{13}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-3\mathrm{}}$) is heated by the injection of an intense relativistic electron beam along the magnetic field. The energy per electron-ion pair transferred to the plasma increases linearly with the beam-to-plasma density ratio $\frac{n_b}{n_p}$. The electron heating is attributed to the electron-electron beam-plasma interaction while the energetic ions are produced by an electrostatic acceleration. After heating, the plasma column oscillates radially at a frequency proportional to $\frac{B}{{n_p}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$.