Electron heating and energy transport due to nonlinear landau damping of electrostatic waves in an electron beam-plasma system

Experimental and theoretical studies of electron heating and energy transport due to nonlinear Landau damping of electrostatic waves in an electron beam-plasma system immersed in a magnetic field were performed. Electron heating occurs by quasilinear electron Landau damping of Trivelpiece-Gould mode induced explosively by nonlinear Landau damping of the slow space charge wave of the electron beam. It is predicted theoretically that the electron heating is caused by the energy transfer from the electron beam, and that the small axial drift of plasma electrons is generated by the momentum transfer from the electron beam. The energy transport by this drift can be balanced with the diffusion and the heat conduction, and this can maitain the large axial inhomogeneity of the electron temperature and density. (author)