Chapter 2 KINETIC THEORY PhysicsANU（第二章PhysicsANU分子运动论）.pdf

Chapter 2 KINETIC THEORY 2.1 Distribution Functions A plasma is an ensemble of particles electrons e, ions i and neutrals n with different positions r and velocities v which move under the influence of external forces (electromagnetic fields, gravity) and internal collision processes (ionization, Coulomb, charge exchange etc.) However, what we observe is some “average” macroscopic plasma parameters such as j - current density, n - electron density, P - pressure, T - ion temperature e i etc. These parameters are macrsocopic averages over the distribution of particle velocities and/or positions. In this lecture we • Introduce the concept of the distribution function fα (r , v, t) for a given plasma species; • Derive the force balance equation (Boltzmann equation) that drives the temporal evolution of fα (r , v, t); • Show that low order velocity moments of fα (r, v , t) give various important macroscopic parameters; • Consider the role of collision processes in coupling the charged and neutral speicies dynamics in a plasma and • Show that low order velocity moments of the Boltzmann equation give “fluid” equations for the evolution of the macroscopic quantities. 30 2.2 Phase Space Consider a single particle of species α. It can be described by a position vector ˆ ˆ ˆ r = xi + yj + zk in configuration space and a velocity vector ˆ ˆ ˆ v = v i + v j + v k x y z in velocity space. T