Interaction of a Relativistic Electron Beam with a Plasma

The dispersion relation for the interaction of a relativistic electron beam in a thermal plasma, in the absence of an external magnetic field, is studied. It is shown that there are two distinct beam-plasma branches present, and that one of them couples to the electromagnetic eigenmode of the beam-plasma system with a magnetic field and a Poynting flux associated with it. It is also shown that these branches can couple together.