Relativistic Electron Cyclotron Damping for an Arbitrary Distribution Function
Abstract
The relativistic expressions for the dielectric tensor elements can be expressed as a double integral over both parallel and perpendicular momentum. The anti-hermitean (damping) parts can be integrated over a delta function for either one of these two momentum, leaving a single integral over the other momentum variable. We review these expressions for either integration option, and compare them with statements in the literature. We explicitly give the limits on the remaining integral, for all positive or negative values of the parallel refractive index, whose magnitude can be less or greater than one. This single integral form can be applied to electron cyclotron harmonic damping for any distorted electron momentum distribution function. A computer program has been written for a distribution function, distorted such as by both electron cyclotron and lower hybrid waves. This code is first checked with analytical expressions for a Maxwellian distribution. Then several numerical results for a distorted distribution will be compared to that for a pure Maxwellian.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 1998
- Bibcode:
- 1998APS..DPP.Q7S19S