Plasma physics for astrophysics / Russell M. Kulsrud.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kulsrud, R. M.

Contributor:

Emma Louise McClellan Fund.

Series:

Princeton series in astrophysics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plasma astrophysics.

Physical Description:

xviii, 468 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2005]

Summary:

In this book, a distinguished expert introduces plasma physics from the ground up, presenting it as a comprehensible field that can be grasped largely on the basis of physical intuition and qualitative reasoning, similar to other fields of physics. Plasmas are ionized gases that can be found in a hydrogen bomb explosion, the confinement chamber of an experimental fusion reactor, the solar corona, the aurora borealis, the interstellar medium, and the immediate vicinity of a gravitational black hole. Not surprisingly, plasma physics appears to consist of numerous topics arising independently from astrophysics, fusion physics, and other practical applications, and hence it remains a field poorly understood even by many astrophysicists. But, in fact, most of these topics can be approached from the same perspective, with a simple, physical intuition.

Selecting simple examples and presenting them in a simultaneously intuitive and rigorous manner, Russell Kulsrud guides readers through a careful derivation of the results and allows them to think through the physics for themselves. Thus, they are better prepared for complex cases and more general results. The first eleven chapters present topics by their importance to plasma physics while the last three chapters emphasize the field's astrophysical applications, applying the results accrued earlier. Throughout, many problems illustrate the field's applications. Based on a course the author taught for many years, Plasma Physics for Astrophysics is intended for graduate students as well as for working astrophysicists.

Contents:

1.1 How Do We Describe a Plasma and Its Electromagnetic Fields? 6

Chapter 2 Particle Motions 14

2.1 Motion in a Uniform Magnetic Field 14

2.2 Motion of a Particle in a Nonuniform Magnetic Field 18

2.3 Magnetic Mirrors 22

2.4 Polarization Drift 25

2.5 Adiabatic Invariants 27

2.6 The Motion of Trapped Particles in the Magnetosphere 31

2.7 Particle Motion and Macroscopic Force Balance 34

Chapter 3 Magnetohydrodynamics 40

3.1 The Basic Equations 40

3.2 Flux Freezing 46

3.3 Applications of Flux Freezing 50

3.3.1 The Symmetric Cases 50

3.3.2 Stellar Collapse 51

3.3.3 The Solar Wind and the Magnetosphere 53

3.3.4 Stellar Formation and the Angular Momentum Problem 56

3.3.5 Magnetic Fields in Turbulence 57

3.4 Io and Jupiter 58

3.5 Motions of Lines of Force in a Vacuum 62

3.6 The Validity of the MHD Equations 63

3.7 Pulsar Magnetospheres 64

Chapter 4 Conservation Relations 71

4.2 The Lorentz Force 71

4.3 Conservation of Linear Momentum 74

4.4 Conservation of Angular Momentum 78

4.5 Conservation of Energy 80

4.6 The Virial Theorem 84

4.7 The Action Principle for MHD 86

4.8 Lundquist's Identity 91

4.9 Axisymmetry 93

Chapter 5 MHD Waves 103

5.1 The Basic Equations 103

5.2 The Intermediate Wave 106

5.3 The Fast and Slow Modes 107

5.3.1 The Nature of the Fast and Slow Modes 108

5.3.2 The Friedricks Diagram 111

5.4 The Number of Modes 113

5.5 Wave Energy and Momentum 114

5.6 Waves in Nonuniform Media 118

5.6.1 The Variation in Amplitude 122

5.6.2 Wave Pressure 124

Chapter 6 Nonlinear Steepening and Shocks 128

6.1 Nonlinear Steepening 128

6.2 Shocks 135

6.3 MHD Shocks 140

6.4 The Shock Thickness and Collisionless Shock Waves 147

Chapter 7 The Energy Principle and Instabilities 151

7.1 Stability 151

7.2 The Energy Principle 152

7.3 Instabilities 171

7.3.1 The Interchange Instability 171

7.3.2 The Parker Instability 174

7.3.3 The Interchange without Gravity 176

7.3.4 Line Tying and Shear 184

7.4 The Magnetorotational Instability (MRI) 186

Chapter 8 Collisions and the Braginski Equations 197

8.2 Binary Collisions 198

8.3 The Fokker-Planck Equation 203

8.4 Collision Rates 208

8.5 The Space-Dependent Fokker-Planck Equation 210

8.6 The Fluid Equations 213

8.7 Transport Effects 221

8.8 The Braginski Equations 226

8.9 Properties of the Transport Coefficients 228

8.12 Maxwellian Collisions 235

Chapter 9 Collisionless Plasmas 245

9.2 Dispersion Relation for Cold Plasma Waves 245

9.3 Parallel Propagation 248

9.4 The Number of Waves 253

9.5 Perpendicular Propagation 254

9.6 Propagation in a General Direction 257

9.7 The Cold Plasma Approximation 259

9.8 Faraday Rotation and Magnetic Fields 261

9.9 Bremsstrahlung 263

9.10 Wave Energy 264

Chapter 10 Collisionless Plasmas: Thermal Effects 269

10.2 Ion Acoustic Waves 272

10.3 The Dielectric Constant 273

10.4 Landau Damping 275

10.5 Physical Picture of Landau Damping 286

10.6 Types of Resonances 290

10.7 The Drift Kinetic Equation 291

Chapter 11 Nonlinear Phenomena 300

11.2 Wave-Particle Interactions 301

11.3 Wave-Wave Interactions 312

11.4 Mode Decay 318

11.5 Nonlinear Landau Damping 323

11.6 Particle Trapping 327

11.7 The Wave Kinetic Equation 329

11.8 Kolmogoroff Turbulence 331

11.9 MHD Turbulence 333

11.9.1 An Exact Solution 334

11.9.2 The Wave Interactions 335

11.9.3 The Goldreich-Sridhar Theory 336

Chapter 12 Cosmic Rays 343

12.1 Physical Properties of Cosmic Rays 343

12.2 Pitch-Angle Scattering of Cosmic Rays by Alfven Waves 347

12.3 The Cosmic-Ray Alfven-Wave Instability 356

12.4 Quasilinear Diffusion of Cosmic Rays 364

12.5 A Model for Cosmic-Ray Propagation with Sources and Sinks 366

12.6 Cosmic-Ray Pressure and Energy 372

12.7 Fermi Acceleration and Shock Acceleration of Cosmic Rays 376

Chapter 13 Astrophysical Dynamos 386

13.2 Cowling's Theorem 388

13.3 Parker's Model for the Earth's Dynamo 389

13.4 The Mean Field Dynamo Theory 393

13.4.1 Derivation of the Mean Field Equations 394

13.4.2 The Growth Rate of Dynamo Modes in the Galactic Disk 397

13.5 Protogalactic Origin of the Magnetic Field 403

13.5.1 The Biermann Battery 404

13.5.2 The Protogalactic Dynamo 408

13.6 Small-Scale Fields 412

Chapter 14 Magnetic Reconnection 420

14.2 The Sweet-Parker Model of Magnetic Reconnection 423

14.3 The Uzdensky Model 427

14.4 Comparison of the Sweet-Parker Model with Observations 436

14.5 Petschek's Model for Magnetic Reconnection 438

14.6 Non-MHD Reconnection 443

14.7 Anomalous Resistivity 446

14.8 Petschek Reconnection Revisited 451

14.9 Which Is the Correct Reconnection Velocity? 452

14.10 The Case When the Guide Field Is Nonzero 453

14.11 Hall Reconnection 453.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Emma Louise McClellan Fund.

ISBN:

0691102678

0691120730

OCLC:

54529014

Online:

Publisher description