Low- and high-frequency nature of oblique filamentation modes. I. Linear theory

International audienceThe solution of the linear dispersion relation of electromagnetic oblique instabilities, for two counterstreaming electron beams, is investigated by using an extended fluid approach that includes the full dynamics of the pressure tensor. Numerical solutions of the simplified polynomial formulation so obtained are analyzed and compared to full kinetic solutions. They correspond to two classes of eigenmodes: lowand high-frequency oblique modes of resonant character. Coexistence of several oblique modes in neighboring regions of the wave vector plane, having close growth-rates, leads to the possibility of a transition starting from a low wave number mode to an oblique mode of high values in wave numbers. For such counterstreaming plasmas, the oblique instability may strengthen and amplify the filamentation process of the distribution function in velocity space, a property of the Vlasov equation. In addition to its simplicity, useful for solving the dispersion relation in the linear regime and for identifying kinetic solutions difficult to calculate otherwise, this extended fluid model is helpful in gaining insight into the fundamental properties of Vlasov theory, which are possibly relevant to kinetic heating processes