Flute instability growth on a magnetized plasma column

The growth of the flute-type instability for a field-aligned plasma column immersed in a uniform magnetic field is studied. Particle-in-cell simulations are compared with a semi-analytic dispersion analysis of the drift cyclotron instability in cylindrical geometry with a Gaussian density profile in the radial direction. For the parameters considered here, the dispersion analysis gives a local maximum for the peak growth rates as a function of R/r(i), where R is the Gaussian characteristic radius and r(i) is the ion gyroradius. The electrostatic and electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulation results give azimuthal and radial mode numbers that are in reasonable agreement with the dispersion analysis. The electrostatic simulations give linear growth rates that are in good agreement with the dispersion analysis results, while the electromagnetic simulations yield growth rate trends that are similar to the dispersion analysis but that are not in quantitative agreement. These differences are ascribed to higher initial field fluctuation levels in the electromagnetic field solver. Overall, the simulations allow the examination of both the linear and nonlinear evolution of the instability in this physical system up to and beyond the point of wave energy saturation. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.