Wave enhancement of electron runaway rate in a collisional plasma

The effects of plasma waves on the electron runaway production rate is studied. For a wave packet with a one‐dimensional spectrum directed along the electric field and with a phase velocity range containing the critical velocity vc for runaway, the runaway production rate is found to be enhanced by many orders of magnitude. For an isotropic wave spectrum, however, the runaway production rate is reduced because of the wave‐enhanced pitch angle scattering.