INCOHERENT RADIATION PROCESSES IN PLASMAS.
Abstract
The power spectrum of the microscopic density fluctuations in a plasma is calculated using an approximate solution of the N-particle problem. This solution makes use of the assumption that the particle trajectories, in a homogeneous plasma with many particles per Debye sphere, are nearly straight lines for large time intervals, and particle interactions can be treated as small perturbations. The general problem of radiation in such a plasma is formulated in terms of a wave equation which describes the refractive index property of the plasma, and whose source term is a sum of terms responsible for the absorption and the scattering of microscopic wave, and for bremsstrahlung. The spectral flux density and emissivity for the scattered radiation and the bremsstrahlung are related to the power spectra of the microscopic density fluctuations. The source term responsible for absorption is calculated, using a generalization of the solution of the N-particle problem. The purpose of the paper is to clarify the physics of the various processes considered by deriving them from basic principles, and not using the formalism of Plasma Kinetic Theory. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0637587
Entities
People
- Fred L. Hinton
Organizations
- California Institute of Technology