Effect of a longitudinal magnetic field on streamer propagation in air: Numerical simulation

Two-dimensional numerical simulation of the negative streamer propagation in external electric and magnetic fields is performed for the case when applied electric and magnetic field vectors are parallel to the symmetry axis of the problem. The calculations are performed for air (a mixture of 80% N2 and 20% O2) with a concentration of gas molecules equal to Loshmidt's number. It is shown that the presence of a longitudinal field leads to a noticeable increase in the streamer propagation velocity associated with a decrease in its radius, which agrees with the known analytical estimates.