Wave breaking and particle jets in intense inhomogeneous charged beams

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of inhomogeneous high-intensity charged particle beams, revealing how inhomogeneity causes wave breaking and jet formation, and provides analytical tools to predict these phenomena and the beam's relaxation process.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical theory to predict wave breaking times and the relaxation process in inhomogeneous charged particle beams.

Findings

Inhomogeneity leads to propagating transverse density waves.

Wave breaking causes singular density build-up and jet formation.

The theory accurately estimates wave breaking and relaxation times.

Abstract

This work analyzes the dynamics of inhomogeneous, magnetically focused high-intensity beams of charged particles. While for homogeneous beams the whole system oscillates with a single frequency, any inhomogeneity leads to propagating transverse density waves which eventually result in a singular density build up, causing wave breaking and jet formation. The theory presented in this paper allows to analytically calculate the time at which the wave breaking takes place. It also gives a good estimate of the time necessary for the beam to relax into the final stationary state consisting of a cold core surrounded by a halo of highly energetic particles.