Direct path from microscopic mechanics to Debye shielding and Landau damping

Dominique Escande (1) , Fabrice Doveil (1) , Yves Elskens (1)

1 PIIM - Physique des interactions ioniques et moléculaires

An equation is derived for the linearized electrostatic potential of a system of $N$ electrons with a neutralizing ionic background. Two successive smoothings first reveal this potential to be the sum of the shielded Coulomb potentials of the individual particles, and then yield the classical Vlasovian expression including initial conditions for contour calculations of Landau damping. Thereby, shielding and collisional transport now appear as two related aspects of the repulsive deflections of electrons. This unifies and simplifies the introduction of two important concepts of plasma physics.

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Dominique Escande, Fabrice Doveil, Yves Elskens. Direct path from microscopic mechanics to Debye shielding and Landau damping. 2013. ⟨hal-00827759⟩