MAGNETOPLASMA WAVE PROPERTIES
Abstract
A method is presented for unifying the analysis of various wave properties of a plasma in a magnetic field. An expression is derived for any microscopic perturbation quantity as an integral of an expectation value with respect to the equilibrium distribution. This yields permittivity and conductivity tensors, and hence the dispersion relation, or spatial and temporal decay or growth rates, for any specified velocity distribution. In the plane wave case, the averaging is eliminated and the calculation significantly simplified by transformation to 'inverse velocity space,' so that singular integrals do not appear and phenomena such as Landau damping become evident. Quasistatic and exact dispersion relations are derived for cold, Maxwellian, resonance, and drifting distributions. Collisions are accounted for as a viscous drag force along the orbits. Generalizations to other external force fields are discussed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0810513
Entities
People
- Paul Diament
Organizations
- Stanford University