Temperature relaxation in a magnetized plasma

Journal Article · Tue Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4827206· OSTI ID:22218541

Dong, Chao; Ren, Haijun; Cai, Huishan ^[1]; Li, Ding ^[1]

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1. Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui Hefei 230026 (China)

A magnetic field greatly affects the relaxation phenomena in a plasma when the particles’ thermal gyro-radii are smaller than the Debye length. Its influence on the temperature relaxation (TR) is investigated through consideration of binary collisions between charged particles in the presence of a uniform magnetic field within a perturbation theory. The relaxation times are calculated. It is shown that the electron-electron (e-e) and ion-ion (i-i) TR rates first increase and then decrease as the magnetic field grows, and the doubly logarithmic term contained in the electron-ion (e-i) TR rate results from the exchange between the electron parallel and the ion perpendicular kinetic energies.

• OSTI ID: 22218541
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 10; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
DEBYE LENGTH
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ELECTRON-ELECTRON COLLISIONS
ELECTRON-ION COLLISIONS
ELECTRONS
ION TEMPERATURE
IONS
KINETIC ENERGY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLASMA
RELAXATION