Plasma Physics: An Introduction

Introduction What is Plasma? Brief History of Plasma Physics Fundamental Parameters Plasma Frequency Debye Shielding Plasma Parameter Collisions Magnetized Plasmas Plasma Beta DeBroglie Wavelength Exercises Charged Particle Motion Introduction Motion in Uniform Fields Method of Averaging Guiding Center Motion Magnetic Drifts Invariance of Magnetic Moment Poincar'e Invariants Adiabatic Invariants Magnetic Mirrors Van Allen Radiation Belts Equatorial Ring Current Second Adiabatic Invariant Third Adiabatic Invariant Motion in Oscillating Fields Exercises Collisions Introduction Collision Operator Two-Body Elastic Collisions Boltzmann Collision Operator Collisional Conservation Laws Boltzmann H-Theorem Two-Body Coulomb Collisions Rutherford Scattering Cross-Section Landau Collision Operator Coulomb Logarithm Rosenbluth Potentials Collision Times Exercises Plasma Fluid Theory Introduction Moments of Distribution Function Moments of Collision Operator Moments of Kinetic Equation Fluid Equations Entropy Production Fluid Closure Chapman-Enskog Closure Normalization of Neutral Gas Equations Braginskii Equations Normalization of Braginskii Equations Cold-Plasma Equations MHD Equations Drift Equations Closure in Collisionless Magnetized Plasmas Langmuir Sheaths Exercises Waves in Cold Plasmas Introduction Plane Waves in homogeneous Plasmas Cold-Plasma Dielectric Permittivity Cold-Plasma Dispersion Relation Wave Polarization Cutoff and Resonance Waves in Unmagnetized Plasmas Low-Frequency Wave Propagation Parallel Wave Propagation Perpendicular Wave Propagation Exercises Wave Propagation Through Inhomogeneous Plasmas Introduction WKB Solutions Cutoffs Resonances Resonant Layers Collisional Damping Pulse Propagation Ray Tracing Ionospheric Radio Wave Propagation Exercises Magnetohydrodynamic Fluids Introduction Magnetic Pressure Flux Freezing MHD Waves Solar Wind Parker Model of Solar Wind Interplanetary Magnetic Field Mass and Angular Momentum Loss MHD Dynamo Theory Homopolar Disk Dynamo Slow and Fast Dynamos Cowling Anti-Dynamo Theorem Ponomarenko Dynamo Magnetic Reconnection Linear Tearing Mode Theory Nonlinear Tearing Mode Theory Fast Magnetic Reconnection MHD Shocks Parallel MHD Shocks Perpendicular MHD Shocks Oblique MHD Shocks Exercises Waves in Warm Plasmas Introduction Landau Damping Physics of Landau Damping Plasma Dispersion Function Ion Acoustic Waves Waves in Magnetized Plasmas Parallel Wave Propagation Perpendicular Wave Propagation Electrostatic Waves Velocity-Space Instabilities Counter-Propagating Beam Instability Current-Driven Ion Acoustic Instability Harris Instability Exercises Bibliography Index