Energetic plasma beam propagation in weak and strong magnetic fields

Dynamical aspects of a relativistic plasma beam propagating across a magnetic field are investigated through two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell numerical simulations. In the two-dimensional simulations, different aspects of the physics are revealed by placing the initial ambient field perpendicular to and within the plane of calculation. In the former case the expected beam polarization appears at early times in the simulations but is quickly dominated by collectively induced heating. In the second geometry effects of magnetic field deformation appear. The consequences of allowing variation in the third dimension are briefly discussed.