Two-Stream Instability Heating of Plasmas by Relativistic Electron Beams

Discussion of the two-stream interaction of relativistic electron beams with a plasma in the nonlinear regime. Two main questions are considered: the maximum intensity to which the unstable waves grow in the two-stream instability phase of the interaction, and the rate of energy transfer to the plasma after wave saturation. A short summary of a series of one-dimensional computer simulations is presented which reveals three stages in the evolution of the beam-plasma system.