Collisional effects on electrostatic waves in isotropic plasmas

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:6655438

Wilensky, R

This report rigorously investigates the effect of electron-neutral collisions on electrostatic wave propagation in an isotropic Lorentz plasma. We solve the linearized Boltzmann equation assuming the neutrals are stationary and infinitely heavy. Electron-neutral scattering is described by an arbitrary scattering cross section. For a small sinusoidal perturbation of the plasma, the resultant electron velocity distribution is the sum of an arbitrary isotropic distribution plus an incremental function represented by an infinite continued fraction containing all the Allis transport collision frequencies. From this distribution we derive a dispersion relation for electrostatic wave propagation. Solutions of this relation are found for three representative collision processes (constant mean-free path, constant mean-free-time, and Ramsauer scattering) for both Maxwellian and non-Maxwellian equilibrium electron velocity distributions.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6655438
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700108* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Wave Phenomena
ATOM COLLISIONS
BOLTZMANN EQUATION
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
COLLISIONS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTRON COLLISIONS
ELECTRON-ATOM COLLISIONS
EQUATIONS
INTERACTIONS
ISOTROPY
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PLASMA
PLASMA WAVES