Abstract
The variation of the steady state electron mean energy between parallel plates in argon and, for comparison, helium gases has been calculated as a function of the distance from the cathode by a Monte Carlo simulation applying a new technique of sampling steady state localized swarm parameters. A brief preliminary survey for excitation and ionization collision cross sections for argon has been made. The results show that, in both gases, damped oscillatory fluctuations of the electron mean energy follow its initial linear increase from zero energy at the cathode and that a rapid rise above the equilibrium energy occurs in front of the anode. This behaviour has been explained qualitatively in terms of an electron energy balance equation. Position dependent, diffusion modified localized drift velocities are also obtained in connection with the explanation.