Abstract
The electron distribution function is modeled numerically with allowance for Coulomb collisions and quasilinear effects under cyclotron resonance conditions by solving a two-dimensional kinetic equation containing the quasilinear diffusion operator and the Coulomb collision operator in the Landau form. Two simplified model collision integrals that make it possible to describe electron heating by microwave radiation are considered. The first model collision operator is obtained by introducing the parametric time dependence of the temperature of the background Maxwellian electrons into the linear collision integral. It is shown that the heating of the bulk electrons can be described in a noncontradictory way if the temperature dynamics of the background electrons is calculated from the equation of energy balance, which is governed by the amount of the microwave power absorbed by the resonant electrons with the distribution function modified due to quasilinear effects. This conclusion is confirmed in a more rigorous fashion by comparing the solutions obtained using the first model Coulomb collision integral with those obtained using the second model integral, namely, the nonlinear operator derived by averaging the distribution function of the scattering electrons over pitch angles. The time-dependent linear collision integral is used to obtain analytic solutions describing quasi-steady electron heating with allowance for the quasilinear degradation of microwave power absorption.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. I. Akhiezer, I. A. Akhiezer, R. V. Polovin, et al., Plasma Electrodynamics (Nauka, Moscow, 1974; Pergamon, Oxford, 1975).
C. F. F. Karney, Comput. Phys. Rep. 4, 183 (1986).
E. Westerhof, in Proceedings of the 9th Joint Workshop on Electron Cyclotron Emission and Electron Cyclotron Heating, Borrego Springs, CA, 1995, p. 3.
L. D. Landau, Zh. Éksp. Teor. Fiz. 7, 203 (1937).
E. V. Suvorov and M. D. Tokman, Plasma Phys. 25, 723 (1983).
V. V. Alikaev, A. G. Litvak, E. V. Suvorov, and A. A. Fraiman, in Proceedings of the All-Union Conference on Radio Frequency Plasma Heating, Gorki, 1982, Ed. by A. G. Litvak (Inst. of Applied Physics, SSSR Acad. Sci., Gorki, 1983), p. 6.
Yu. N. Dnestrovskij and D. P. Kostomarov, Numerical Simulation of Plasmas (Mir, Moscow, 1982; Springer-Verlag, New York, 1986).
B. A. Trubnikov, in Reviews of Plasma Physics, Ed. by M. A. Leontovich (Gosatomizdat, Moscow, 1963; Consultants Bureau, New York, 1963), Vol. 1.
E. V. Suvorov and A. G. Shalashov, Preprint No. 462 (Inst. of Applied Physics, Russian Acad. Sci., Nizhni Novgorod, 1998).
N. V. Karetkina, Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser. 15: Vychisl. Mat. Kibern., No. 3 (1978).
A. V. Bobylev, I. F. Potapenko, and V. A. Chuyanov, Preprint No. 76 (Inst. of Applied Mathematics, USSR Acad. Sci., Moscow, 1980).
S. Chapman and T. G. Cowling, The Mathematical Theory of Nonuniform Gases (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1970).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
__________
Translated from Fizika Plazmy, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2002, pp. 51–61.
Original Russian Text Copyright © 2002 by Shalashov, Suvorov.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shalashov, A.G., Suvorov, E.V. Modeling of Coulomb collisions in a kinetic description of the electron cyclotron resonance plasma heating. Plasma Phys. Rep. 28, 46–56 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1434295
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1434295