COLLISION-INDUCED INSTABILITY IN A PLASMA WITH AN ISOTROPIC VELOCITY-SPACE BISTRIBUTION,
Abstract
A dispersion law for the propagation of longitudinal and transverse waves in an electron plasma is derived using the Boltzmann equation with a collision term representative of isotropic, recoilless, elastic, binary scattering of the electrons. Fo1 a spatially homogeneous plasma, the unperturbed ve1locity-space distribution is thus isotropic. Taking a collision frequency f which varies with speed v as f(v) = const. v to the h power, a class of collision-induced instabilities can arise if -3>h>+3. The growth rate of these instabilitaes is largest for an infinite wavelength perturbation. The results for transverse waves agree with an earlier derivation which used the relaxation approximation to describe the collisions. (Authooor)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0421009
Entities
People
- Deborah J. Nelson
- J. E. Drummond
- J. L. Hirshfield
Organizations
- Boeing