Fundamentals of Plasma Physics
Paul M. Bellan
This text is based on a course I have taught for many years to first year graduate and senior-level undergraduate students at Caltech. One outcome of this teaching has been the realization that although students typically decide to study plasma physics as a means to- wards some larger goal, they often conclude that this study has an attraction and charm of its own; in a sense the journey becomes as enjoyable as the destination. This conclu- sion is shared by me and I feel that a delightful aspect of plasma physics is the frequent transferability of ideas between extremely different applications so, for example, a concept developed in the context of astrophysics might suddenly become relevant to fusion research or vice versa.
1 Basic concepts
2 Derivation of fluid equations 30
3 Motion of a single plasma particle 624 Elementary plasma waves 123
5 Streaming instabilities and the Landau problem 1496 Cold plasma waves in a magnetized plasma 1787 Waves in inhomogeneous plasmas and wave energy relations 2108 Vlasov theory of warm electrostatic waves in a magnetized plasma 2299 MHD equilibria 26410 Stability of static MHD equilibria 29811 Magnetic helicity interpreted and Woltjer-Taylor relaxation 33612 Magnetic reconnection 36013 Fokker-Planck theory of collisions 38214 Wave-particle nonlinearities 39815 Wave-wave nonlinearities 428
16 Non-neutral plasmas 46017 Dusty plasmas 483
Bibliography and suggested reading References 515
Appendix A: Intuitive method for vector calculus identities 518
Appendix B: Vector calculus in orthogonal curvilinear coordinates 524
Appendix C: Frequently used physical constants and formulae Index 528
1 Basic concepts
2 Derivation of fluid equations 30
3 Motion of a single plasma particle 624 Elementary plasma waves 123
5 Streaming instabilities and the Landau problem 1496 Cold plasma waves in a magnetized plasma 1787 Waves in inhomogeneous plasmas and wave energy relations 2108 Vlasov theory of warm electrostatic waves in a magnetized plasma 2299 MHD equilibria 26410 Stability of static MHD equilibria 29811 Magnetic helicity interpreted and Woltjer-Taylor relaxation 33612 Magnetic reconnection 36013 Fokker-Planck theory of collisions 38214 Wave-particle nonlinearities 39815 Wave-wave nonlinearities 428
16 Non-neutral plasmas 46017 Dusty plasmas 483
Bibliography and suggested reading References 515
Appendix A: Intuitive method for vector calculus identities 518
Appendix B: Vector calculus in orthogonal curvilinear coordinates 524
Appendix C: Frequently used physical constants and formulae Index 528