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The general background of this monograph and the aim of it is described in detail in Chapter I. As stated in 1.7 it is written according to the principle that "when rigour appears to conflict with simplicity, simplicity is given preference", which means that it is intended for a rather broad public. Not only graduate students but also advanced undergraduates should be able to understand at least most of it. This monograph is the result of many years of inspiring discussions with a number of colleagues, for which I want to thank them very much. Especially I should mention the groups in Stockholm and La Jolla: in Stockholm, Dr Carl-Gunne Flilthammar and many of his collaborators, including Drs Lars Block, Per Carlqvist, Lennart lindberg, Michael Raadu, Staffan Torven, Miroslav Babic, and Itlgvar Axniis, and further, Drs Bo Lehnert and Bjorn Bonnevier, all at the Royal Institute of Technology. Of other col leagues in Sweden, I should mention Dr Bertel Laurent, Stockholm University, Dr Aina Elvius, The Stockholm Observatory, and Dr Bengt Hultqvist, Kiruna. In La Jolla my thanks go first of all to Dr Gustaf Arrhenius, who once invited me to La Jolla, which was the start of a most interesting collaboration; further, to Dr W.B.
This book is an introduction to contemporary plasma physics that discusses the most relevant recent advances in the field and covers a careful choice of applications to various branches of astrophysics and space science. The purpose of the book is to allow the student to master the basic concepts of plasma physics and to bring him or her up to date in a number of relevant areas of current research. Topics covered include orbit theory, kinetic theory, fluid models, magnetohydrodynamics, MHD turbulence, instabilities, discontinuities, and magnetic reconnection. Some prior knowledge of classical physics is required, in particular fluid mechanics, statistical physics, and electrodynamics. The mathematical developments are self-contained and explicitly detailed in the text. A number of exercises are provided at the end of each chapter, together with suggestions and solutions.
Most of the visible matter in the universe exists in the plasma state. Plasmas are of major importance for space physics, solar physics, and astrophysics. On Earth they are essential for magnetic controlled thermonuclear fusion. This textbook collects lecture notes from a one-semester course taught at the K.U. Leuven to advanced undergraduate students in applied mathematics and physics. A particular strength of this book is that it provides a low threshold introduction to plasmas with an emphasis on first principles and fundamental concepts and properties. The discussion of plasma models is to a large extent limited to Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) with its merits and limitations clearly explained. MHD provides the students on their first encounter with plasmas, with a powerful plasma model that they can link to familiar classic fluid dynamics. The solar wind is studied as an example of hydrodynamics and MHD at work in solar physics and astrophysics.
In May 1998 a hundred renowned scientists from 20 different countries met at the Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie to communicate their latest results and ideas in astrophysical and space plasma, as a follow-up to previous similar meetings which were held in Varenna, Abastumai, Potsdam, Toki and Guaruja. The main papers emerging from this meeting are collected in this volume. They deal with fundamental plasma phenomena, particle and radiation processes in astrophysics and space physics as the origin of magnetic activity, the basic mechanisms of particle acceleration and plasma heating common to plasma in galaxies and at the sun as well as in planetary magnetospheres. New observational results from YOHKOH, SOHO and other missions are presented. Using these, the basic physical processes leading to coronal heating and solar/stellar wind acceleration are discussed. Other topics are the microphysics of shock waves and transport phenomena in collisionless plasmas and the physics of thin plasma boundaries. The volume also treats the ionic composition of plasma and dust in the Universe and their observability in the solar system. A CD-ROM is attached which adds a valuable multimedia component, illuminating results of observations, theory and simulations. Everyone interested in astrophysical plasmas, its radiation and charged particle aspects, and advanced or even beginning students will find references to nearly all modern aspects of plasma astrophysics and space physics as well as an overview of current research results.
Introducing the principles and applications of plasma physics, this new edition is ideal as an advanced undergraduate or graduate-level text.
This textbook is intended as an introduction to the physics of solar and stellar coronae, emphasizing kinetic plasma processes. It is addressed to observational astronomers, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates without a ba- ground in plasma physics. Coronal physics is today a vast field with many different aims and goals. So- ing out the really important aspects of an observed phenomenon and using the physics best suited for the case is a formidable problem. There are already several excellent books, oriented toward the interests of astrophysicists, that deal with the magnetohydrodynamics of stellar atmospheres, radiation transport, and radiation theory. In kinetic processes, the different particle velocities play an important role. This is the case when particle collisions can be neglected, for example in very brief phenomena – such as one period of a high-frequency wave – or in effects produced by energetic particles with very long collision times. Some of the most persistent problems of solar physics, like coronal heating, shock waves, flare energy release, and particle acceleration, are likely to be at least partially related to such p- cesses. Study of the Sun is not regarded here as an end in itself, but as the source of information for more general stellar applications. Our understanding of stellar processes relies heavily, in turn, on our understanding of solar processes. Thus an introduction to what is happening in hot, dilute coronae necessarily starts with the plasma physics of our nearest star.
This two-part book is devoted to classic fundamentals and current practices and perspectives of modern plasma astrophysics. This second part discusses the physics of magnetic reconnection and flares of electromagnetic origin in space plasmas in the solar system, single and double stars, relativistic objects, accretion disks and their coronae. More than 25% of the text is updated from the first edition, included the additions of new figures, equations and entire sections on topics such as topological triggers for solar flares and the magnetospheric physics problem. This book is aimed at professional researchers in astrophysics, but it will also be useful to graduate students in space sciences, geophysics, applied physics and mathematics, especially those seeking a unified view of plasma physics and fluid mechanics.
Advanced undergraduate/beginning graduate text on space and laboratory plasma physics.
This textbook begins with a description of the Earth's plasma environment, followed by the derivation of single particle motions in electromagnetic fields, with applications to the Earth's magnetosphere. Also discussed are the origin and effects of collisions and conductivities, formation of the ionosphere, magnetospheric convection and dynamics, and solar wind-magnetosphere coupling.The second half of the book presents a more theoretical foundation of plasma physics, starting with kinetic theory. Introducing moments of distribution function permits the derivation of the fluid equations, followed by an analysis of fluid boundaries, with the Earth's magnetopause and bow shock as examples, and finally, fluid and kinetic theory are applied to derive the relevant wave modes in a plasma.This revised edition seamlessly integrates new sections on magnetopause reconstruction, as well as instability theory and thermal fluctuations based on new developments in space physics. Applications such as the important problems of collisionless reconnection and collisionless shocks are covered, and some problems have also been included at the end of each chapter.
During the past decade our understanding of plasma physics has witnessed an explosive growth due to research in two areas: work directed toward controlled nuclear fusion and work in space physics. This book addresses the growing need to apply these complementary discoveries to astrophysics. Today plasma is recognized as the key element to understanding the generation of magnetic fields in planets, stars and galaxies, the accel- eration and transport of cosmic rays, and many other phenomena occurring in interstellar space, in radio galaxies, stellar atmospheres, quasars, and so forth.