Plasma Waves In Space Physics Carrying On The Research Legacies Of Peter Gary And Richard Thorne

This book describes the linear theory of waves and instabilities that propagate in a collisionless plasma.

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.

Plasma science is the study of ionized states of matter. This book discusses the field's potential contributions to society and recommends actions that would optimize those contributions. It includes an assessment of the field's scientific and technological status as well as a discussion of broad themes such as fundamental plasma experiments, theoretical and computational plasma research, and plasma science education.

Market: Researchers in plasma physics and astrophysics. This informative work contains the papers of the International Topical Conference on Research Trends in Nonlinear Space Plasma Physics, held in February 1991. Leading figures in the field met to discuss subjects including chaotic phenomena in space plasma, ionospheric and alfven waves, plasma instabilities and turbulence, and collisionless shock waves.

Low-frequency waves in space plasmas have been studied for several decades, and our knowledge gain has been incremental with several paradigm-changing leaps forward. In our solar system, such waves occur in the ionospheres and magnetospheres of planets, and around our Moon. They occur in the solar wind, and more recently, they have been confirmed in the Sun’s atmosphere as well. The goal of wave research is to understand their generation, their propagation, and their interaction with the surrounding plasma. Low-frequency Waves in Space Plasmas presents a concise and authoritative up-to-date look on where wave research stands: What have we learned in the last decade? What are unanswered questions? While in the past waves in different astrophysical plasmas have been largely treated in separate books, the unique feature of this monograph is that it covers waves in many plasma regions, including: Waves in geospace, including ionosphere and magnetosphere Waves in planetary magnetospheres Waves at the Moon Waves in the solar wind Waves in the solar atmosphere Because of the breadth of topics covered, this volume should appeal to a broad community of space scientists and students, and it should also be of interest to astronomers/astrophysicists who are studying space plasmas beyond our Solar System.

As part of its current physics decadal survey, Physics 2010, the NRC was asked by the DOE, NSF, and NASA to carry out an assessment of and outlook for the broad field of plasma science and engineering over the next several years. The study was to focus on progress in plasma research, identify the most compelling new scientific opportunities, evaluate prospects for broader application of plasmas, and offer guidance to realize these opportunities. The study paid particular attention to these last two points. This "demand-side" perspective provided a clear look at what plasma research can do to help achieve national goals of fusion energy, economic competitiveness, and nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship. The report provides an examination of the broad themes that frame plasma research: low-temperature plasma science and engineering; plasma physics at high energy density; plasma science of magnetic fusion; space and astrophysical science; and basic plasma science. Within those themes, the report offers a bold vision for future developments in plasma science.