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Covariant form for the collision integral

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2007

D. B. MELROSE
D. B. MELROSE*
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia (melrose@physics.usyd.edu.au)
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Abstract

The collision integral that describes the evolution of a distribution of particles in a plasma due to Coulomb interactions between themselves or with other particles is generalized to include relativistic effects and the current–current interaction (in addition to the charge–charge interaction). This is achieved through a covariant version of a conventional derivation based on correlation functions for fluctuations in the plasma. The covariant theory is used to distinguish between longitudinal (charge–charge) and transverse (current–current) interactions. For highly relativistic particles, the current–current contribution is half the charge–charge contribution when Debye screening is unimportant, and is unaffected by Debye screening. It is shown that the classical theory is reproduced by a quantum electrodynamics calculation for electron–electron (Møller) scattering in the limit of small momentum transfer.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , August 2007 , pp. 599 - 611
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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