Abstract
The passage of a single pulse of relativistic electrons through a plasma is considered, and the total current in the axial direction it induces in the plasma is calculated. This calculation is valid for an injected beam current density that has arbitrary functional dependence on the radial and azimuthal coordinates. For the special case of a beam current density that is uniform in the radial direction out to the beam radius a, these results agree with results of others published previously.
This calculation is simple because the equation for the variation with time of the plasma charge density at any point, independent of what happens at other points, is only slightly more complicated than the familiar equation for an ohmic conduction.
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