ON LANDAU DAMPING

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1961 · Physics of Fluids (U.S.)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1706419· OSTI ID:4029519

Dawson, J

The problem of Landau damping of longitudinal plasma oscillations is investigated by dividing the plasma electrons into two groups. The first group is the main plasma and consists of all electrons with velocities considerably different from the wave velocity while the second group, the resonant electrons. consists of all electrons with velocities near the wave velocity. It is assumed that initially the main plasma has a wave on it while the resonant particles are undisturbed. It is shown that equating the gain in energy of the resonant particles to the loss in energy of the wave gives the correct Landau damping. Only first-order quantities are used in the analysis so that particle trapping which is a nonlinear effect is not involved. The validity of arguments which attribute Landau damping to particle trapping is discussed. The breakdown of the linearized theory and the Galilean invariance of the damping are also investigated. (auth)

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., N.J.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• NSA Number: NSA-15-024142
• OSTI ID: 4029519
• Report Number(s): MATT-54; 0031-9171
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids (U.S.), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids (U.S.) Vol. Vol: 4; ISSN PFLDA
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ELECTRONS
ENERGY
EQUATIONS
LANDAU DAMPING
OSCILLATIONS
PHYSICS
PLASMA
RESONANCE
VELOCITY