Nonlinear Evolution and Saturation of an Unstable Electrostatic Wave
Abstract
The nonlinear development and saturation of a single Langmuir wave driven unstable by a gentle bump in the tail of the distribution function in a collisionless plasma is studied by treating the resonant particles numerically. Over a wide range of parameter values, the amplitude of the potential Phi is found to saturate at such a level that the ratio g = Omega(b)/Gamma(0) approximately equals 3.2, where Omega(b)=/(e(k squared)Phi/m) is the bounce frequency of the trapped particles in the wave trough and Gamma (0) is the linear growth rate, approximately given by the classical Landau value. In view of the importance of inverse Landau damping for many instabilities, this work should have wide applicability and the results should be suitable for direct experimental tests.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1971
- Accession Number
- AD0730123
Entities
People
- B. D. Fried
- C. S. Liu
- R. W. Means
- R. Z. Sagdeev
Organizations
- University of California, Los Angeles