Collisional equipartition rate for a magnetized pure electron plasma

Journal Article · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860124· OSTI ID:7297146

Glinsky, M E; O'Neil, T M; Rosenbluth, M N ^[1]; Tsuruta, K; Ichimaru, S ^[2]

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1. University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0319 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113 (Japan)

The collisional equipartition rate between the parallel and perpendicular velocity components is calculated for a weakly correlated electron plasma that is immersed in a uniform magnetic field. Here, parallel and perpendicular refer to the direction of the magnetic field. The rate depends on the parameter {bar {kappa}}=({ital {bar b}}/{ital r}{sub {ital c}})/, where {ital r}{sub {ital c}}=({ital T}/{ital m}){sup 1/2}/{Omega}{sub {ital c}} is the cyclotron radius and {ital {bar b}}=2{ital e}{sup 2}/{ital T} is twice the distance of closest approach. For a strongly magnetized plasma (i.e., {bar {kappa}}{much gt}1), the equipartition rate is exponentially small ({nu}{similar to}exp({minus}5(3{pi}{bar {kappa}}){sup 2/5}/6)). For a weakly magnetized plasma (i.e., {bar {kappa}}{much lt}1), the rate is the same as for an unmagnetized plasma except that {ital r}{sub {ital c}}/{ital {bar b}} replaces {lambda}{sub D}/{ital {bar b}} in the Coulomb logarithm. (It is assumed here that {ital r}{sub {ital c}}{lt}{lambda}{sub D}; for {ital r}{sub {ital c}}{gt}{lambda}{sub D}, the plasma is effectively unmagnetized.) This paper contains a numerical treatment that spans the intermediate regime {bar {kappa}}{similar to}1, and connects onto asymptotic results in the two limits {bar {kappa}}{much lt}1 and {bar {kappa}}{much gt}1. Also, an improved asymptotic expression for the rate in the high-field limit is derived. The present theoretical results are in good agreement with recent measurements of the equipartition rate over eight decades in {bar {kappa}} and four decades in the scaled rate {nu}/{ital n{bar v}{bar b}}{sup 2}, where {ital n} is the electron density and {ital {bar v}}=(2{ital T}/{ital m}){sup 1/2}.

• DOE Contract Number: FG03-88ER53275
• OSTI ID: 7297146
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Vol. 4:5; ISSN 0899-8221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
PLASMA
ELECTRON COLLISIONS
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY
DEBYE LENGTH
ELECTRON CORRELATION
ELECTRON DENSITY
KINETIC ENERGY
MAGNETIZATION
COLLISIONS
CORRELATIONS
DIMENSIONS
ENERGY
LENGTH
700380* - Elementary & Classical Processes in Plasmas- (1992-)