Electrostatic precession of electron layers. Part I: Long E layers

An analysis is made of the coherent electrostatic precession of an unneutralized astron E layer. This precession is analogous to a slow E × B drift of the relativistic electrons of the E layer in the applied axial magnetic field and in the electric field arising from the image charges on the conducting vessel walls. The analysis assumes an E layer with axial length much longer than its radius, a precession frequency much smaller than the relativistic cyclotron frequency, coherent motion of the individual electrons, and small amplitude perturbations. The electrostatic precession is predicted to occur at a much higher frequency than that of the magnetic precession observed for neutralized E layers. The precessional motion is in the direction of the electron cyclotron motion and therefore is expected to be unstable to dissipative forces.