Magnetic field amplification by a nonlinear electron streaming instability

Abstract

Magnetic field amplification by relativistic streaming plasma instabilities is central to a wide variety of high-energy astrophysical environments as well as to laboratory scenarios associated with intense lasers and electron beams. We report on a new secondary nonlinear instability which arises for relativistic dilute electron beams after the saturation of the linear Weibel instability. This instability grows due to the transverse magnetic pressure associated with the beam current filaments, which cannot be quickly neutralized due to the inertia of background ions. We show that it can amplify the magnetic field strength and spatial scale by orders of magnitude, leading to large-scale plasma cavities with strong magnetic field and to very efficient conversion of the beam kinetic energy into magnetic energy. The instability growth rate, saturation level, and scale length are derived analytically and shown to be in good agreement with fully-kinetic simulations.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Electron polarization in ultrarelativistic plasma current filamentation instabilities
• Long-term Evolution of Relativistic Unmagnetized Collisionless Shocks
• Lepton-driven Non-resonant Streaming Instability
• Magnetic field amplification by a plasma cavitation instability in relativistic shock precursors
• Electron slingshot acceleration in relativistic preturbulent shocks explored via emitted photon polarization
• Electron heating in high Mach number collisionless shocks
• The role of plasma instabilities in relativistic radiation mediated shocks: stability analysis and particle-in-cell simulations
• Saturation of the asymmetric current filamentation instability under conditions relevant to relativistic shock precursors
• Saturation Level of Ion Weibel Instability and Isotropization Length Scale in Electron-Ion Weibel-Mediated Shocks
• Electron Weibel instability and~quasi-magnetostatic structures in~an~expanding collisionless plasma
• Slowdown of interpenetration of two counterpropagating plasma slab due to collective effects
• Simulations of Astrophysically Relevant Pair Beam Instabilities in a Laboratory Context
• Self-confinement of relativistic pair beams in magnetized interstellar plasmas: the case of pulsar X-ray filaments