Kinetic theory of a nonequilibrium plasma: Evaluation of the vectorized collisional Boltzmann equation

Journal Article · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860885· OSTI ID:6608268

Morgenthaler, A W; Hagelstein, P L ^[1]

---

1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 38-280, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

Cartesian velocity moments of the Boltzmann equation are evaluated using modal solutions to the spherical harmonic oscillator as a basis set. The nonlinear collision matrix describing the interaction between any two modes is evaluated analytically for the Landau collision operator, and matrix elements describing collisions between identical particles are calculated for some pairs of azimuthally symmetric modes. First-order linear transport coefficients calculated directly from collision matrix elements are shown to agree exactly with previously published results; coefficients of thermal conductivity and viscosity are computed much more accurately by trivially extending this calculation. Relaxation times for self-collisions in a two-dimensional linearized plasma are also computed, indicating that the plasma equilibrates in roughly one to ten times the Spitzer self-collision time. The results obtained in this paper are useful for both analytic and numerical simulations of nonequilibrium plasmas and an explicit six-moment model for a one-component azimuthally symmetric plasma is given.

• OSTI ID: 6608268
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Vol. 5:5; ISSN 0899-8221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
NON-EQUILIBRIUM PLASMA
BOLTZMANN EQUATION
TRANSPORT THEORY
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
KINETIC EQUATIONS
MATRIX ELEMENTS
RELAXATION TIME
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
VISCOSITY
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLASMA
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
700330* - Plasma Kinetics
Transport
& Impurities- (1992-)