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On the relaxation of non-thermal plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

A. D. McGowan
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, Scotland
J. J. Sanderson
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, Scotland

Abstract

The collisional relaxation of various plasma distributions that are initially far removed from thermal equilibrium is investigated numerically using a Fokker–Planck code. It is shown that self-similar and kappa distributions do not remain self-similar or kappa, and that this is due to the velocity dependence of the effective collision frequency. For the relaxation of an isotropic two temperature plasma it is shown that a constant-temperature three-component distribution function is a plausible model for analytical calculations. Investigation of the relaxation of bi-Maxwellian plasmas resolves some discrepancies that have arisen from earlier studies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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