Characteristics of energy input into a self-maintained volume discharge initiated by an electron beam in a regime with a well developed initial current

The characteristics of energy input into a self-maintained volume discharge in the case of preionization by a high-power relativistic electron beam of sufficiently long duration are investigated theoretically using a simple physical model. An explicit expression is obtained which describes the efficiency of energy input into the discharge in this case. Applications of the theoretical results obtained are briefly discussed.