Collisional equipartition rate for a magnetized pure electron plasma

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 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), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids B; (United States) Vol. 4:5; ISSN 0899-8221; ISSN PFBPE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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