Effects of the plasma conductivity on transverse instabilities in high-intensity ion beam

A stability analysis of a propagating ion beam through a plasma medium is carried out in terms of transverse conductivity of the background plasma. Coupled eigenvalue equations are obtained for the flat-top density profiles of beam ions and plasma electrons. The dispersion relation of the transverse instability in an intense ion beam propagating through the background plasma is derived, including the plasma conductivity (4πσ_⊥/ω), the magnetic decay time τ_d and fractional charge neutralization f. It is shown that the obtained dispersion relation recovers the previous one of the electron-ion two-stream instability in the limit of σ_⊥→0. On the other hand, the dispersion relation of the resistive-hose instability is recovered when σ_⊥→∞. Influence of the finite transverse conductivity σ_⊥ on the resistive hose stability properties are investigated for the ion beam propagating through a plasma channel. The growth rate of the resistive hose instability decreases considerably as the transverse conductivity 4πσ_⊥/ω decreases from infinity.