Course Outline:
Plasmas are ubiquitous in the universe and thus an understanding of plasma behaviour is essential for space physics and for much of astrophysics. This course will provide a basic introduction to a range of plasma phenomena. Applications to natural plasmas are given with a view to providing the necessary foundation for a study of space science.
Syllabus:
- Introduction:
Characteristics of plasmas, collective behaviour. - Single particle motion and drifts:
Motion in uniform fields, in non-uniform fields and time-varying fields; adiabatic invariants, trapped particles. - Two-fluid model of a plasma:
Fluid equations; fluid drifts. - Waves in plasmas:
Electrostatic waves: electron and ion frequency waves; oscillations and waves in a magnetic field. Electromagnetic waves: electron and ion frequency waves; EM waves in a magnetic field, parallel and perpendicular propagation. - Collisional effects:
Diffusion, mobility, magnetic field effects; resistivity, magnetic reconnection. - Equilibrium and stability:
Macroinstabilities, streaming fluid instabilities. - Kinetic theory:
Kinetic wave theory, Landau damping, plasma dispersion function, magnetic field effects, non-Maxwellian distributions, microinstabilities. - Nonlinear effects
Quasilinear theory; shocks, solitons and double layers; parametric instabilities; ponderomotive force. - Dusty plasmas:
Dust grains in plasmas, charging effects, waves in dusty plasmas, self-gravitational effects, strongly coupled dusty plasmas and complex plasma behaviour.
References:
- F. F. Chen, Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol 1. Plasma Physics, Plenum, 1984.
- N. A. Krall and A. W. Trivelpiece, Principles of Plasma Physics, McGraw Hill, 1973.
- D. R. Nicholson, Introduction to Plasma Theory Wiley, 1983.
- W. Baumjohann and R. A. Treumann, Basic Space Plasma Physics, Imperial College Press & World Scientific, 1997.
- R. A. Treumann and W. Baumjohann, Advanced Space Plasma Physics, Imperial College Press & World Scientific, 1997.
- F. Verheest, Waves in Dusty Space Plasmas, Kluwer, 2000.