✍ Scribed by Robert J. Goldston, Paul H. Rutherford
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Based on a course taught at Princeton University, this textbook offers undergraduate students a detailed introduction to the field. It assumes no previous knowledge of plasma physics, and is based on the authors' years of research in the laboratory.
Introduction to Plasma Physics
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction to plasmas
1.1 WHAT IS A PLASMA?
1.2 HOW ARE PLASMAS MADE?
1.3 WHAT ARE PLASMAS USED FOR?
1.4 ELECTRON CURRENT FLOW IN A VACUUM TUBE
1.5 THE ARC DISCHARGE
1.6 THERMAL DISTRIBUTION OF VELOCITIES IN A PLASMA
1.7 DEBYE SHIELDING
1.8 MATERIAL PROBES IN A PLASMA
Chapter 2: Particle drifts in uniform fields
2.1 GYRO-MOTION
2.2 UNIFORM E FIELD AND UNIFORM B FIELD: E x B DRIFT
2.3 GRAVITATIONAL DRIFT
Chapter 3 Particle drifts in non-uniform magnetic fields
3.1 DELTA B DRIFT
3.2 CURVATURE DRIFT
3.3 STATIC B FIELD; CONSERVATION OF MAGNETIC MOMENT AT ZEROTH ORDER
3.4 MAGNETIC MIRRORS
3.5 ENERGY AND MAGNETIC-MOMENT CONSERVATION TO FIRST ORDER FOR STATIC FIELDS*
3.6 DERIVATION OF DRIFTS: GENERAL CASE
Chapter 4: Particle drifts in time-dependent fields
4.1 TIME-VARYING B FIELD
4.2 ADIABATIC COMPRESSION
4.3 TIME-VARYING E FIELD
4.4 ADIABATIC INVARIANTS
4.5 SECOND ADIABATIC INVARIANT: J CONSERVATION
4.6 PROOF OF J CONSERVATION IN TIME-INDEPENDENT FIELDS
Chapter 5: Mappings
5.1 NON-CONSERVATION OF J : A SIMPLE MAPPING
5.2 EXPERIMENTING WITH MAPPINGS
5.3 SCALING IN MAPS
5.4 HAMILTONIAN MAPS AND AREA PRESERVATION
5.5 PARTICLE TRAJECTORIES
5.6 RESONANCES AND ISLANDS
5.7 ONSET OF STOCHASTICITY
Chapter 6: Fluid equations for a plasma
6.1 CONTINUITY EQUATION
6.2 MOMENTUM BALANCE EQUATION
6.3 EQUATIONS OF STATE
6.4 TWO-FLUID EQUATIONS
6.5 PLASMA RESISTIVITY
Chapter 7: Relation between fluid equations and guiding-center drifts
7.1 DIAMAGNETIC DRIFT
7.2 FLUID DRIFTS AND GUIDING-CENTER DRIFTS
7.3 ANISOTROPIC-PRESSURE CASE
7.4 DIAMAGNETIC DRIFT IN NON-UNIFORM B FIELDS
7.5 POLARIZATION CURRENT IN THE FLUID MODEL
7.6 PARALLEL PRESSURE BALANCE
Chapter 8: Single-fluid magnetohydrodynamics
8.1 THE MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC EQUATIONS
8.2 THE QUASI-NEUTRALITY APPROXIMATION
8.3 THE ‘SMALL LARMOR RADIUS’ APPROXIMATION
8.4 THE APPROXIMATION OF ‘INFINITE CONDUCTIVITY’
8.5 CONSERVATION OF MAGNETIC FLUX
8.6 CONSERVATION OF ENERGY
8.7 MAGNETIC REYNOLDS NUMBER
Chapter 9: Magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium
9.1 MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM EQUATIONS
9.2 MAGNETIC PRESSURE: THE CONCEPT OF BETA
9.3 THE CYLINDRICAL PINCH
9.4 FORCE-FREE EQUILIBRIA: THE ‘CYLINDRICAL’ TOKAMAK
9.5 ANISOTROPIC PRESSURE: MIRROR EQUILIBRIA
9.6 RESISTIVE DISSIPATION IN PLASMA EQUILIBRIA
Chapter 10: Fully and partially ionized plasmas
10.1 DEGREE OF IONIZATION OF A PLASMA
10.2 COLLISION CROSS SECTIONS, MEAN-FREE PATHS AND COLLISION FREQUENCIES
10.3 DEGREE OF IONIZATION: CORONAL EQUILIBRIUM
10.4 PENETRATION OF NEUTRALS INTO PLASMAS
10.5 PENETRATION OF NEUTRALS INTO PLASMAS: QUANTITATIVE TREATMENT
10.6 RADIATION
10.7 COLLISIONS WITH NEUTRALS AND WITH CHARGED PARTICLES: RELATIVE IMPORTANCE
Chapter 11: Collisions in fully ionized plasmas
11.1 COULOMB COLLISIONS
11.2 ELECTRON AND ION COLLISION FREQUENCIES
11.3 PLASMA RESISTIVITY
11.4 ENERGY TRANSFER
11.5 BREMSSTRAHLUNG
Chapter 12: Diffusion in plasmas
12.1 DIFFUSION AS A RANDOM WALK
12.2 PROBABILITY THEORY FOR THE RANDOM WALK
12.3 THE DIFFUSION EQUATION
12.4 DIFFUSION IN WEAKLY IONIZED GASES
12.5 DIFFUSION IN FULLY IONIZED PLASMAS
12.6 DIFFUSION DUE TO LIKE AND UNLIKE CHARGED-PARTICLE COLLISIONS
12.7 DIFFUSION AS STOCHASTIC MOTION
12.8 DIFFUSION OF ENERGY (HEAT CONDUCTION)
Chapter 13: The Fokker-Planck equation for Coulomb collisions
13.1 THE FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION: GENERAL FORM
13.2 THE FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION FOR ELECTRON-ION COLLISIONS
13.3 THE ‘LORENTZ-GAS’ APPROXIMATION
13.4 PLASMA RESISTIVITY IN THE LORENTZ-GAS APPROXIMATION
Chapter 14: Collisions of fast ions in a plasma
14.1 FAST IONS IN FUSION PLASMAS
14.2 SLOWING-DOWN OF BEAM IONS DUE TO COLLISIONS WITH ELECTRONS
14.3 SLOWING-DOWN OF BEAM IONS DUE TO COLLISIONS WITH BACKGROUND IONS
14.4 ‘CRITICAL’ BEAM-ION ENERGY
14.5 THE FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION FOR ENERGETIC IONS
14.6 PITCH-ANGLE SCATTERING OF BEAM IONS
14.7 ‘TWO-COMPONENT’ FUSION REACTIONS
Chapter 15: Basic concepts of small-amplitude waves in anisotropic dispersive media
15.1 EXPONENTIAL NOTATION
15.2 GROUP VELOCITIES
15.3 RAY-TRACING EQUATIONS
Chapter 16: Waves in an unmagnetized plasma
16.1 LANGMUIR WAVES AND OSCILLATIONS
16.2 ION SOUND WAVES
16.3 HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN AN UNMAGNETIZED PLASMA
Chapter 17: High-frequency waves in a magnetized plasma
17.1 HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES PROPAGATING PERPENDICULAR TO THE MAGNETIC FIELD
17.2 HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES PROPAGATING PARALLEL TO THE MAGNETIC FIELD
Chapter 18: Low-frequency waves in a magnetized plasma
18.1 A BROADER PERSPECTIVE-THE DIELECTRIC TENSOR
18.2 THE COLD-PLASMA DISPERSION RELATION
18.3 COLDWAVE
18.4 THE SHEAR ALFVEN WAVE
18.5 THE MAGNETOSONIC WAVE
18.6 LOW-FREQUENCY ALFVEN WAVES, FINITE T, ARBITRARY ANGLE OF PROPAGATION
18.7 SLOW WAVES AND FAST WAVES
Chapter 19: The Rayleigh-Taylor and flute instabilities
19.1 THE GRAVITATIONAL RAY LEIGH-TAY LOR INSTABILITY
19.2 ROLE OF INCOMPRESSIBILITY IN THE RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
19.3 PHYSICAL MECHANISMS OF THE RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
19.4 FLUTE INSTABILITY DUE TO FIELD CURVATURE
19.5 FLUTE INSTABILITY IN MAGNETIC MIRRORS
19.6 FLUTE INSTABILITY IN CLOSED FIELD LINE CONFIGURATIONS
19.7 FLUTE INSTABILITY OF THE PINCH
19.8 MHD STABILITY OF THE TOKAMAK
Chapter 20 The resistive tearing instability
20.1 THE PLASMA CURRENT SLAB
20.2 IDEAL MHD STABILITY OF THE CURRENT SLAB
20.3 INCLUSION OF RESISTIVITY: THE TEARING INSTABILITY
20.4 THE RESISTIVE LAYER
20.5 THE OUTER MHD REGIONS
20.6 MAGNETIC ISLANDS
Chapter 21: Drift waves and instabilities
21.1 THE PLANE PLASMA SLAB
21.2 THE PERTURBED EQUATION OF MOTION IN THE INCOMPRESSIBLE CASE
21.3 THE PERTURBED GENERALIZED OHM’S LAW
21.4 THE DISPERSION RELATION FOR DRIFT WAVES
21.5 ‘ELECTROSTATIC’ DRIFT WAVES
Chapter 22 The Vlasov equation
22.1 THE NEED FOR A KINETIC THEORY
22.2 THE PARTICLE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION
22.3 THE BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
22.4 THE VLASOV-MAXWELL EQUATIONS
Chapter 23: Kinetic effects on plasma waves: Vlasov’s treatment
23.1 THE LINEARIZED VLASOV EQUATION
23.2 VLASOV’S SOLUTION
23.3 THERMAL EFFECTS ON ELECTRON PLASMA WAVES
23.4 THE TWO-STREAM INSTABILITY
23.5 ION ACOUSTIC WAVES
23.6 INADEQUACIES IN VLASOV'S TREATMENT OF THERMAL EFFECTS ON PLASMA WAVES
Chapter 24: Kinetic effects on plasma waves: Landau's treatment
24.1 LAPLACE TRANSFORMATION
24.2 LANDAU’S SOLUTION
24.3 PHYSICAL MEANING OF LANDAU DAMPING
24.4 THE NYQUIST DIAGRAM
24.5 ION ACOUSTIC WAVES: ION LANDAU DAMPING
Chapter 25: Velocity-space instabilities and nonlinear theory
25.1 ‘INVERSE LANDAU DAMPING’ OF ELECTRON PLASMA WAVES
25.2 QUASI-LINEAR THEORY OF UNSTABLE ELECTRON PLASMA WAVES
25.3 MOMENTUM AND ENERGY CONSERVATION IN QUASI- LINEAR THEORY
25.4 ELECTRON TRAPPING IN A SINGLE WAVE
25.5 ION ACOUSTIC WAVE INSTABILITIES
Chapter 26: The drift-kinetic equation and kinetic drift waves
26.1 THE ‘LOW-BETA’ PLANE PLASMA SLAB
26.2 DERIVATION OF THE DRIFT-KINETIC EQUATION
26.3 ‘COLLISIONLESS’ DRIFT WAVES
26.4 EFFECT OF AN ELECTRON TEMPERATURE GRADIENT
26.5 EFFECT OF AN ELECTRON CURRENT
26.6 THE ‘ION TEMPERATURE GRADIENT’ INSTABILITY
Appendix A: Physical quantities and their SI units
Appendix B: Equations in the SI system
Appendix C: Physical constants
Appendix D: Useful vector formulae
D.l VECTOR IDENTITIES
D.2 MATRIX NOTATION
D.2.1 Kronecker deltas
D.2.2 Levi-Civita symbols
Appendix E: Differential operators in Cartesian and curvilinear coordinates
E.l CARTESIAN COORDINATES (x, y, z)
E.2 CYLINDRICAL COORDINATES (ro, theta, z)
E.3 SPHERICAL COORDINATES (ro, theta, phi)
Appendix F: Suggestions for further reading
📜 SIMILAR VOLUMES
Based on a course taught at Princeton University, this textbook offers undergraduate students a detailed introduction to the field. It assumes no previous knowledge of plasma physics, and is based on the authors' years of research in the laboratory.
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