PREFACE: First International Workshop on Nonequilibrium Processes in Plasma Physics and Studies of Environment

Details PREFACE: First International Workshop on Nonequilibrium Processes in Plasma Physics and Studies of Environment PREFACE: First International Workshop on Nonequilibrium Processes in Plasma Physics and Studies of Environment

Jun 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007jphcs..71a1001p&link_type=abstract

Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 71, Issue 1, pp. 011001 (2007).

Physics

Scientific paper

This volume is a collection of papers associated with a series of invited lectures presented at the First Workshop on Nonequilibrium processes in Plasma Physics and studies of Environment that was held at Mt Kopaonik in August 2006. The workshop originated as a part of the FP6 COE 026328 which had the basic aim of promoting centers of excellence in Western Balkan countries, to facilitate dissemination of their results and to help them establish themselves in the broader arena of European and international science. So the best way to achieve all those goals was to prepare a workshop associated with the local conference SPIG (Symposium on Physics of Ionized Gases) where the participants could attend sessions in which the host Laboratory presented progress reports and papers and thereby gain a full perspective of our results. At the same time this allowed participants in the COE the opportunity to compare their results with the results of external speakers and to gain new perspectives and knowledge.
The program of the workshop was augmented by inviting some of our colleagues who visited the COE in recent years or have an active collaboration with a participating member. In that respect this volume is not only a proceedings of the workshop but a collection of papers related to the topic of the workshop: Non-equilibrium phenomena in plasmas and in the science of our environment. The idea is to offer review articles either summarizing a broader area of published or about to be published work or to give overviews showing preliminary results of the works in progress. The refereeing of the papers consisted of two parts, first in selection of the invitees and second in checking the submitted manuscripts. The papers were refereed to the standard of the Journal.
As the program of the COE covers a wide area of topics from application of plasmas in nano- electronics to monitoring and removal of pollutants in the atmosphere, so the program of the workshop covered an even broader range of topics with the common thread of non- equilibrium phenomena playing a major part in the basic physics and also in the technological applications. The universal symbol of non-equilibrium phenomena is Maxwell's demon and it was selected, as designed by Professor Rastko Ćirić (of Belgrade's University for Fine Arts), to be the symbol of the conference.
In plasma physics, the field is usually divided between equilibrium and non-equilibrium plasmas. The advantage of studying plasmas in thermal equilibrium is that they may be described by universal laws, such as Saha and Boltzmann equations. The only problem is that, apart from the very early stages in the development of the universe, such plasmas do not exist, although there are plasmas that come very close and at least satisfy the thermal laws locally. Non-equilibrium plasmas have laws unique to each situation and studies of their idiosyncrasies continue to provide a lot of food for thought for scientists, possibilities for applications and job opportunities. Or as Tolstoy wrote, `Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way?'. So, while making analogy of the non-equilibrium with the lack of happiness may sound discouraging, the scientists who try to observe these phenomena (like psychologists in the case of families) have plenty to study and are, therefore, likely to be happy. At the same time non-equilibrium phenomena in plasmas and in the atmosphere are extremely important. A fact we should be aware of every time we use an integrated circuit manufactured after the late 1970s or whenever weather changes, wind blows and pollution is carried in from some distant locations.
This volume starts with a paper by D Batani (Milano, Italy) on shock waves, an example of plasmas that may be locally thermal but display very strong gradients, M Pinheiro (Lisboa, Portugal) contributed an article on anomalous diffusion in magnetized plasmas, a problem that has been addressed in the literature from many different standpoints. A special case of non-equilibrium is that of non-neutral plasmas, i.e. plasmas devoid of ions, as described in the lecture and paper by J Marler (Appleton, USA).
Physics of swarms (the low space charge limit of ionized gases) is similar to the previous study in the fact that we may have only one group of charged particles electrons (or ions). But the difference is that the latter has a much higher pressure and therefore number of collisions. In the lecture on one aspect of the application of swarm data (transport coefficients) to determine the electron scattering cross sections R White (Townsville, Australia) addresses a long standing controversy in the vibrational excitation of H2 of an unacceptable discrepancy between swarm results and binary collision experiments and theories, (a problem that has been of particular importance to the host Laboratory). The lecture of N Dyatko (Troitsk, Russian Federation) tackles one of the most interesting recent problems in the transport theory of ionized gases, that of the negative absolute conductivity and attempts to translate it to solid state physics where the stakes are much higher. The swarm studies were always based on excellent experimental data and the leading experimental group today is that of J de Urquijo (Cuernavaca, Mexico) who presents a review of a wide range of transport data that his group obtained in fluorinated gases. The gas breakdown in dc and high frequency fields was addressed by M Radmilović-Rađenović (Belgrade, Serbia) by applying a detailed secondary electron production model in Particle in Cell (PIC) code and comparing the results to a broad range of experimental data.
The hybrid (fluid-Monte Carlo) model has been applied in the study by Z Donko and K Kutasi (Budapest, Hungary) of low pressure obstructed glow discharges to decribe the effect of fast neutrals on gas discharges. A study of kinetics of negative ions of hydrogen in glow discharges with positive column and in hollow cathode dicharges is presented by R Djulgerova (Sofia, Boulgaria). Modelling and experimental results for surface plasmas with an aim to study the kinetics of dissociation are given by V Guerra (Lisboa, Portugal). L Campbell (Adelaide, Australia) describes modelling of a similar kinetics, albeit for a significantly larger ionized gas in his study of electron induced processes in the upper atmosphere. Atmospheric pressure discharges is also the topic of the work of T Gans (Belfast, Northern Ireland andBochum, Germany) but his experiments with atmospheric plasma jet are carried out at sea level and therefore the pressures are significantly higher than those for usual non-equilibrium plasmas. Higher still are the densities in plasmas generated in liquids (for medical purposes) as described in the paper of W Graham (Belfast, Northern Ireland).
Another very applied aspect of non-equilibrium plasma is highlighted in a comprehensive review given by S Radovanov (Gloucester, USA) of the basic physics of the non-equilibrium plasma source for implantation of boron (for doping in the manufacture of integrated circuits) . A topical review of diagnostics of dusty particles in rf plasmas is given by I Stefanović, J Winter and colleagues (Bochum, Germany) and includes implications for plasma processing, nanotechnologies and all the way to astrophysics. Transport of particles of similar sizes in the atmosphere and its influence on the pollution of the human environment is presented in the paper by M Tasić (Belgrade, Serbia). Finally a paper that connects both aspects of the workshop, plasma physics and environment, is the review of M Radetić (Belgrade, Serbia) which covers application of low pressure non-equilibrium plasmas in treatment of textiles, not only to reduce the cost and environmental impact of the technology but also to produce filters to purify waters used in the process and in general.
The broad range of topics indicates that modern plasma physics is driven not only by the need to further understand the fundamental principles but with an eye towards applications. Consequently in addition to f

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

PREFACE: First International Workshop on Nonequilibrium Processes in Plasma Physics and Studies of Environment 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 PREFACE: First International Workshop on Nonequilibrium Processes in Plasma Physics and Studies of Environment, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and PREFACE: First International Workshop on Nonequilibrium Processes in Plasma Physics and Studies of Environment will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-883085