Coherent synchrotron radiation in storage rings

We take a detour from the main theme of this volume and present a discussion of coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) in the context of storage rings rather than single-pass systems. Interest in this topic has been revived by a series of measurements carried out at several light source facilities. There is strong evidence that the observed coherent signal is accompanied by a beam instability, possibly driven by CSR itself. In this paper we review a "self-consistent" model of longitudinal beam dynamics in which CSR is the only agent of collective forces. The model yields numerical solutions that appear to reproduce the main features of the observations.