Stopping power of a nonequilibrium plasma
An expression which includes the effects of departures from local equilibrium due to gradients in the plasma is derived for the energy loss of a beam of particles passing through an inhomogeneous plasma. A combination of the test-particle approximation with the Lenard-Balescu collision term and the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) approximation for the plasma kinetic equations is used. The occurrence of microinstabilities in the BGK model is discussed, and it is found that they do not contribute to the plasma stopping power for the cases of interest here. Calculations for an ..cap alpha..-particle beam with energies from 0.5 to 4.5 MeV in a fully ionized hydrogen plasma are presented. The effects of flow-velocity gradients are small, whereas those due to temperature gradients may produce a sizeable change in the plasma stopping power. The largest changes are found at high temperatures (> or approx. = 1 keV) and at low energies (< or approx. = 1 MeV). These nonequilibrium contributions can be directly observed if the energy loss of a probe beam is measured at various angles with respect to the plasma gradients.
- Research Organization:
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, Palo Alto, California 94304
- OSTI ID:
- 5456229
- Journal Information:
- Phys. Rev., A; (United States), Vol. 21:3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALPHA PARTICLES
ENERGY LOSSES
INHOMOGENEOUS PLASMA
CHARGED-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
STOPPING POWER
NON-EQUILIBRIUM PLASMA
ALPHA BEAMS
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
HYDROGEN
BEAMS
CHARGED PARTICLES
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
HELIUM 4 BEAMS
ION BEAMS
LOSSES
NONMETALS
PLASMA
RADIATION TRANSPORT
700105* - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Plasma Kinetics-Theoretical- (-1987)