Fundamentals of Plasma Physics
eBook - PDF

Fundamentals of Plasma Physics

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Fundamentals of Plasma Physics

About this book

This rigorous explanation of plasmas is relevant to diverse plasma applications such as controlled fusion, astrophysical plasmas, solar physics, magnetospheric plasmas, and plasma thrusters. More thorough than previous texts, it exploits new powerful mathematical techniques to develop deeper insights into plasma behavior. After developing the basic plasma equations from first principles, the book explores single particle motion with particular attention to adiabatic invariance. The author then examines types of plasma waves and the issue of Landau damping. Magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability are tackled with emphasis on the topological concepts of magnetic helicity and self-organization. Advanced topics follow, including magnetic reconnection, nonlinear waves, and the Fokker–Planck treatment of collisions. The book concludes by discussing unconventional plasmas such as non-neutral and dusty plasmas. Written for beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduates, this text emphasizes the fundamental principles that apply across many different contexts.

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Yes, you can access Fundamentals of Plasma Physics by Paul M. Bellan in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Physical Sciences & Astronomy & Astrophysics. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half-title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Preface
  8. 1 Basic concepts
  9. 2 The Vlasov, two-fluid, and MHD models of plasma dynamics
  10. 3 Motion of a single plasma particle
  11. 4 Elementary plasma waves
  12. 5 Streaming instabilities and the Landau problem
  13. 6 Cold plasma waves in a magnetized plasma
  14. 7 Waves in inhomogeneous plasmas and wave-energy relations
  15. 8 Vlasov theory of warm electrostatic waves in a magnetized plasma
  16. 9 MHD equilibria
  17. 10 Stability of static MHD equilibria
  18. 11 Magnetic helicity interpreted and Woltjer–Taylor relaxation
  19. 12 Magnetic reconnection
  20. 13 Fokker–Planck theory of collisions
  21. 14 Wave–particle nonlinearities
  22. 15 Wave–wave nonlinearities
  23. 16 Non-neutral plasmas
  24. 17 Dusty plasmas
  25. Appendix A: Intuitive method for vector calculus identities
  26. Appendix B Vector calculus in orthogonal curvilinear coordinates
  27. Appendix C Frequently used physical constants and formulae
  28. Bibliography and suggested reading
  29. References
  30. Index