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Title: Collisional damping of plasma waves on a pure electron plasma column

Abstract

The collisional damping of electron plasma waves (or Trivelpiece-Gould waves) on a pure electron plasma column is discussed. The damping in a pure electron plasma differs from that in a neutral plasma, since there are no ions to provide collisional drag. A dispersion relation for the complex wave frequency is derived from Poisson's equation and the drift-kinetic equation with the Dougherty collision operator--a Fokker-Planck operator that conserves particle number, momentum, and energy. For large phase velocity, where Landau damping is negligible, the dispersion relation yields the complex frequency {omega}=(k{sub z}{omega}{sub p}/k)[1+(3/2)(k{lambda}{sub D}){sup 2}(1+10i{alpha}/9)(1+2i{alpha}){sup -}{sup 1}], where {omega}{sub p} is the plasma frequency, k{sub z} is the axial wavenumber, k is the total wavenumber, {lambda}{sub D} is the Debye length, {nu} is the collision frequency, and {alpha}{identical_to}{nu}k/{omega}{sub p}k{sub z}. This expression spans from the weakly collisional regime ({alpha}<<1) to the moderately collisional regime ({alpha}{approx}1) and in the weakly collisional limit yields a damping rate which is smaller than that for a neutral plasma by the factor k{sup 2}{lambda}{sub D}{sup 2}<<1. In the strongly collisional limit ({alpha}>>1), the damping is enhanced by long-range interactions that are not present in the kinetic theory (which assumes pointlike interactions); the effect of these long-range collisionsmore » on the damping is discussed.« less

Authors:
;  [1]
  1. Department of Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21069882
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2807220; (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; DEBYE LENGTH; DISPERSION RELATIONS; ELECTRON COLLISIONS; ELECTRON PLASMA WAVES; ELECTRONS; FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION; INTERACTION RANGE; IONS; KINETIC EQUATIONS; LANDAU DAMPING; LANGMUIR FREQUENCY; PHASE VELOCITY; PLASMA; POISSON EQUATION

Citation Formats

Anderson, M W, and O'Neil, T M. Collisional damping of plasma waves on a pure electron plasma column. United States: N. p., 2007. Web. doi:10.1063/1.2807220.
Anderson, M W, & O'Neil, T M. Collisional damping of plasma waves on a pure electron plasma column. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2807220
Anderson, M W, and O'Neil, T M. 2007. "Collisional damping of plasma waves on a pure electron plasma column". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2807220.
@article{osti_21069882,
title = {Collisional damping of plasma waves on a pure electron plasma column},
author = {Anderson, M W and O'Neil, T M},
abstractNote = {The collisional damping of electron plasma waves (or Trivelpiece-Gould waves) on a pure electron plasma column is discussed. The damping in a pure electron plasma differs from that in a neutral plasma, since there are no ions to provide collisional drag. A dispersion relation for the complex wave frequency is derived from Poisson's equation and the drift-kinetic equation with the Dougherty collision operator--a Fokker-Planck operator that conserves particle number, momentum, and energy. For large phase velocity, where Landau damping is negligible, the dispersion relation yields the complex frequency {omega}=(k{sub z}{omega}{sub p}/k)[1+(3/2)(k{lambda}{sub D}){sup 2}(1+10i{alpha}/9)(1+2i{alpha}){sup -}{sup 1}], where {omega}{sub p} is the plasma frequency, k{sub z} is the axial wavenumber, k is the total wavenumber, {lambda}{sub D} is the Debye length, {nu} is the collision frequency, and {alpha}{identical_to}{nu}k/{omega}{sub p}k{sub z}. This expression spans from the weakly collisional regime ({alpha}<<1) to the moderately collisional regime ({alpha}{approx}1) and in the weakly collisional limit yields a damping rate which is smaller than that for a neutral plasma by the factor k{sup 2}{lambda}{sub D}{sup 2}<<1. In the strongly collisional limit ({alpha}>>1), the damping is enhanced by long-range interactions that are not present in the kinetic theory (which assumes pointlike interactions); the effect of these long-range collisions on the damping is discussed.},
doi = {10.1063/1.2807220},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21069882}, journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
issn = {1070-664X},
number = 11,
volume = 14,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2007},
month = {Thu Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2007}
}