Cerenkov and cyclotron instabilities in a plasma stream

The model of a stationary medium traversed by a weak plasma stream directed along a magnetic field is investigated. The usual linear treatment is adopted, and the stream is taken to be ‘cold’, with only electron (perturbation) motions considered. The objective is to assess the plane-wave growth associated with both Cerenkov and cyclotron instabilities; in particular, the dependence of the growth on frequency and angle of phase propagation. The main discussion is of the case when the stationary medium is a cold plasma in which both electron and positive ion motions are taken into account. Various expressions for the growth are derived, and numerical calculations are presented in graphical form.