Plasma Waves

Extended and revised, Plasma Waves, 2nd Edition provides essential information on basic formulas and categorizes the various possible types of waves and their interactions. The book includes modern and complete treatments of electron cyclotron emission, collisions, relativistic effects, Landau damping, quasilinear and nonlinear wave theory, and tunneling equations. The broad scope encompasses waves in cold, warm, and hot plasmas and relativistic plasma waves. Special chapters deal with the effects of boundaries, inhomogeneities, and nonlinear effects. The author derives all formulae and describes several fundamental wave experiments, allowing for a greater appreciation of the subject.

Plasma Waves discusses the basic development and equations for the many aspects of plasma waves. The book is organized into two major parts, examining both linear and nonlinear plasma waves in the eight chapters it encompasses. After briefly discussing the properties and applications of plasma wave, the book goes on examining the wave types in a cold, magnetized plasma and the general forms of the dispersion relation that characterize the waves and label the various types of solutions. Chapters 3 and 4 analyze the acoustic phenomena through the fluid model of plasma and the kinetic effects. These chapters also describe the averaging process for the fluid element motion using expanded Boltzmann equation for each species in a velocity moment expansion, truncating the expansion at some suitable level, depending on the particular problem. The remaining four chapters discuss the effects of adding sharp boundaries, slowly varying inhomogeneities, nonlinearities at several levels, and turbulent plasmas. Supplementary texts on complex variables and the special functions in plasma physics are provided in the concluding section of this text. The book is an advanced text for graduate students who have had an introductory plasma course at some level.

The book aims to present current knowledge concerning the propagation of electro magnetic waves in a homogeneous magnetoplasma for which temperature effects are unimportant. It places roughly equal emphasis on the radio and the . hydromagnetic parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The dispersion properties of a magnetoplasma are treated as a function both of wave frequency (assumed real) and of ionization density. However, there is little discussion of propagation in a stratified medium, for of collisions is included only which reference may be made to Budden [1] . The effect in so far as this can be done with simplicity. The book describes how pulses are radiated from both small and large antennas embedded in a homogeneous magneto plasma. The power density radiated from a type of dipole antenna is studied as a function of direction of radiation in all bands of wave frequency. Input reactance is not treated, but the dependence of radiation resistance on wave frequency is described for the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Also described is the relation between beaming and guidance for Alfven waves.

"Blurb & Contents" "The reader is treated to constantly refreshing and engaging commentary and opinion that always informs....As she depicts them, the problems of the universe are always fascinating and, most of all, they are alive and compelling." David DeVorkin, Sky & Telescope Virginia Trimble offers readers a fascinating and accessible tour of the stars. An astronomer with shared appointments in California and Maryland, the author ranges over a large portion of the universe as she discusses the search for life on other planets, how galaxies form, why stars explode and die, and the nature of the elusive dark matter in the universe. She also explains the astronomical significance of Cheeps' pyramid and leads the reader through scientific speculation about what and when the Star of Bethlehem might have been. Throughout, Trimble points to the exciting unanswered questions that still perplex the field and considers the formidable tasks to be faced by the next generation of young astronomers.

This book is a study of plasma waves which are observed in the earth's magnetosphere. The emphasis is on a thorough, but concise, treatment of the necessary theory and the use of this theory to understand the manifold varieties of waves which are observed by ground-based instruments and by satellites. We restrict our treatment to waves with wavelengths short compared with the spatial scales of the background plasma in the mag netosphere. By so doing we exclude large scale magnetohydrodynamic phenomena such as ULF pulsations in the Pc2-5 ranges. The field is an active one and we cannot hope to discuss every wave phenomenon ever observed in the magnetosphere! We try instead to give a good treatment of phenomena which are well understood, and which illustrate as many different parts of the theory as possible. It is thus hoped to put the reader in a position to understand the current literature. The treatment is aimed at a beginning graduate student in the field but it is hoped that it will also be of use as a reference to established workers. A knowledge of electromagnetic theory and some elementary plasma physics is assumed. The mathematical background required in cludes a knowledge of vector calculus, linear algebra, and Fourier trans form theory encountered in standard undergraduate physics curricula. A reasonable acquaintance with the theory of functions of a complex vari able including contour integration and the residue theorem is assumed.

The book deals with the propagation and absorption of high frequency waves in plasmas. The text collects in a structured and self-contained way the basic knowledge on the broad and varied behavior of plasma waves, adopting the microscopic kinetic description of the plasma as unifying principle. The internal coherence of the theory is explicitly stressed, and interesting physical phenomena peculiar to plasmas are discussed in detail, including collisionless damping of waves, the development of stochasticity in the interactions of charged particles with electromagnetic waves, and nonlinear interactions between waves. The most common and useful approximations used in solving practical problems are derived as special cases from the more general kinetic approach, thereby clarifying their meaning and domain of applicability. This exposition should be useful to plasma physicists both as an introduction and a reference to this field of research.