Effect of ion dynamics on the evolution of electron phase-space holes

The evolution of two-dimensional (2D) electron phase-space holes (electron holes) has been previously investigated with electrostatic Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations, which neglect ion dynamics. The electron holes are found to be unstable to the transverse instability, and their evolution is determined by the combined action between the transverse instability and the stabilization by the background magnetic field. In this paper, the effect of ion dynamics on the evolution of an electron hole is studied. In weakly magnetized plasma (Ω_e < ω_pe, where Ω_e and ω_pe are electron gyrofrequency and plasma frequency, respectively), the electron hole is still unstable to the transverse instability. However, it evolves a little faster and is destroyed in a shorter time when ion dynamics is considered. In strongly magnetized plasma (Ω_e > ω_pe), the electron hole is broken due to the lower hybrid waves, and its evolution is much faster.