In the absence of an external magnetic field, a cathode spot (CS) of a vacuum arc experiences a Brownian random walk (jumps) along the surface. A magnetic field parallel to the surface causes spot drift in the anti-Amperian direction (retrograde motion). Three statements are suggested to explain the retrograde motion and its features: 1) each CS jump is associated with a voltage drop fluctuation $\Delta {V}$ ; 2) the tangential electric field (the Hall field) is created by the additional positive surface charges at the retrograde side of the spot. This field results in an additional voltage drop at the retrograde side of the spot $\delta {V}$ ; and 3) the probability of the spot jumping in the retrograde direction is proportional to $\delta {V} /\Delta {V}$ . Calculations based on these statements allow one to achieve qualitative and, in many cases, quantitative agreement with experiments concerning retrograde velocity dependences on these external parameters: magnetic field, arc current, interelectrode gap, and cathode surface conditions. No adjustable parameters were used in these calculations.

中文翻译：

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真空弧的逆行运动模型：与实验的比较

在没有外部磁场的情况下，真空电弧的阴极点 (CS) 会沿表面进行布朗随机游走（跳跃）。平行于表面的磁场会导致反安培方向的光点漂移（逆行运动）。建议用三个语句来解释逆行运动及其特征：1）每次 CS 跳跃都与电压降波动有关 $\Delta {V}$ ; 2) 切向电场（霍尔场）是由光斑逆行侧的额外正表面电荷产生的。该场会导致光斑逆行侧的额外电压降 $\delta {V}$ ; 3) 光点逆行跳跃的概率正比于 $\delta {V} /\Delta {V}$ . 基于这些陈述的计算使人们能够在许多情况下与关于逆行速度依赖于这些外部参数的实验取得定性和定量的一致：磁场、电弧电流、极间间隙和阴极表面条件。在这些计算中没有使用可调整的参数。