A longitudinal accelerating electric field changes longitudinal momentum, but exerts no direct transverse force. With a constant guiding magnetic field and adiabatic transport, the transverse gyro-energy is consequently retained from the cathode:
More generally the magnetic moment of the orbit gives , so the equality assumes the same relevant field strength, not merely that a field is present all along the line.
In the strong-magnetization regime, many electron gyro-orbits occur during an important long-range electron-ion interaction and the gyroradius is small. The ion then interacts predominantly with a guiding centre; rapid transverse cyclotron motion does not act like an unmagnetized bath at the full transverse electron temperature. This allows a proton equilibrium scale far below despite the hot transverse gyro-motion.[ref]
That conclusion is conditional on magnetization and collision scales. A finite gyroradius, nonadiabatic fields or transverse beam errors can restore heating and degrade cooling; it is not generally true that transverse temperature can never affect the cooled beam.
Yaroslav S. Derbenev Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
An accelerator physicist whose theoretical work develops magnetized electron cooling. A cold electron beam travels alongside a heavier particle beam, exchanging momentum with it and reducing its random motion. His analysis shows how guiding the electrons with a solenoidal magnetic field can increase the cooling rate and lower the equilibrium temperature. The result is useful for preparing compact ion beams for collisions.[ref]