Radiative properties of a plasma moving across a magnetic field. I: Theoretical analysis

Abstract

The early‐time evolution of plasmas moving across a background magnetic field is addressed with a two‐dimensional model in which a plasma cloud is assumed to have formed instantaneously with a velocity across a uniform background magnetic field and with a Gaussian density profile in the two dimensions perpendicular to the direction of motion. This model treats both the dynamics associated with the formation of a polarization field and the generation and propagation of electromagnetic waves. In general, the results indicate that, to zeroth order, the plasma cloud behaves like a large dipole antenna oriented in the direction of the polarization field which oscillates at frequencies defined by the normal mode of the system. The magnitude of the radiation field and the amount of plasma momentum and energy carried away by and stored instantaneously in the fields are discussed only qualitatively in this paper, quantitative results for specific cloud parameters and scaling laws for the magnitude of the fields and the slowing down of the plasma cloud are presented in a companion manuscript.