Uniform derivation of Coulomb collisional transport thanks to Debye shielding

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

1 PIIM - Physique des interactions ioniques et moléculaires

The effective potential acting on particles in plasmas being essentially the Debye-shielded Coulomb potential, the particles collisional transport in thermal equilibrium is calculated for all impact parameters $b$, with a convergent expression reducing to Rutherford scattering for small $b$. No cutoff at the Debye length scale is needed, and the Coulomb logarithm is only slightly modified.

Mots clés: Coulomb collisions; Coulomb logarithm; Debye screening; collisional transport

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

Dominique F. Escande, Yves Elskens, Fabrice Doveil. Uniform derivation of Coulomb collisional transport thanks to Debye shielding. 2014. ⟨hal-00985819v1⟩