Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
2007-07-16
Physics
Plasma Physics
27 pages, double column format, 4 figures, several typos fixed
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.76.066404
We calculate the electron-ion temperature equilibration rate in a fully ionized, weakly to moderately coupled plasma, using an exact treatment of the Fermi-Dirac electrons. The temperature is sufficiently high so that the quantum-mechanical Born approximation to the scattering is valid. At the heart of this calculation lies the method of dimensional continuation, a technique that we borrow from quantum field theory and use in a novel fashion to regulate the kinetic equations in a consistent manner. We can then perform a systematic perturbation expansion and thereby obtain a finite first-principles result to leading and next-to-leading order. Unlike model building, this systematic calculation yields an estimate of its own error and thus prescribes its domain of applicability. The calculational error is small for a weakly to moderately coupled plasma, for which our result is nearly exact. It should also be emphasized that our calculation becomes unreliable for a strongly coupled plasma, where the perturbative expansion that we employ breaks down, and one must then utilize model building and computer simulations. Besides providing new and potentially useful results, we use this calculation as an opportunity to explain the method of dimensional continuation in a pedagogical fashion. Interestingly, in the regime of relevance for many inertial confinement fusion experiments, the degeneracy corrections are comparable in size to the subleading quantum correction below the Born approximation. For consistency, we therefore present this subleading quantum-to-classical transition correction in addition to the degeneracy correction.
Brown Lowell S.
Singleton Robert L. Jr.
No associations
LandOfFree
Temperature Equilibration Rate with Fermi-Dirac Statistics 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 Temperature Equilibration Rate with Fermi-Dirac Statistics, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Temperature Equilibration Rate with Fermi-Dirac Statistics will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-195742