Nonlinear perturbative particle simulation studies of the electron-proton two-stream instability in high intensity proton beams

Two-stream instabilities in intense charged particle beams, described self-consistently by the nonlinear Vlasov-Maxwell equations, are studied using a 3D multispecies perturbative particle simulation method. The recently developed Beam Equilibrium, Stability and Transport code is used to simulate the linear and nonlinear properties of the electron-proton (e-p) two-stream instability observed in the Proton Storage Ring (PSR) experiment for a long, coasting beam. Simulations in a parameter regime characteristic of the PSR experiment show that the e-p instability has a dipole-mode structure, and that the growth rate is an increasing function of beam intensity, but a decreasing function of the longitudinal momentum spread. It is also shown that the instability threshold decreases with increasing fractional charge neutralization and increases with increasing axial momentum spread of the beam particles. In the nonlinear phase, the simulations show that the proton density perturbation first saturates at a relatively low level and subsequently grows to a higher level. Finally, the nonlinear space-charge-induced transverse tune spread, which introduces a major growth-rate reduction effect on the e-p instability, is studied for self-consistent equilibrium populations of protons and electrons.