Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2010-03-29
Phys. Rev. E 81, 046401 (2010)
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Phys. Rev. E, in press
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.81.046401
By numerically solving the relativistic Boltzmann equations, we compute the time scale for relaxation to thermal equilibrium for an optically thick electron-positron plasma with baryon loading. We focus on the time scales of electromagnetic interactions. The collisional integrals are obtained directly from the corresponding QED matrix elements. Thermalization time scales are computed for a wide range of values of both the total energy density (over 10 orders of magnitude) and of the baryonic loading parameter (over 6 orders of magnitude). This also allows us to study such interesting limiting cases as the almost purely electron-positron plasma or electron-proton plasma as well as intermediate cases. These results appear to be important both for laboratory experiments aimed at generating optically thick pair plasmas as well as for astrophysical models in which electron-positron pair plasmas play a relevant role.
Aksenov Alexey G.
Ruffini Remo
Vereshchagin Gregory V.
No associations
LandOfFree
Pair plasma relaxation time scales does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Pair plasma relaxation time scales, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Pair plasma relaxation time scales will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-501174