Abstract
A continuity equation for the transport of electron density is derived using the concept of a macro-kinetic distribution (MKD) for electrons in a background gas (Kunhardt et al., 1988). In lowest order this distribution is shown to obey an equation that is equivalent to the steady-state Boltz- mann equation with an equivalent field that is velocity dependent. An explicit form for the MKD is presented for the case of a quasi-Lorentz gas model. The MKD has been used to evaluate the electron current density and to obtain expressions for the mobility and diffusion coefficients. These coefficients are dependent on the electron density gradient, so that the resulting continuity equation is non-linear. The consequences of these results are illustrated for the case of constant collision frequency.
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References
Kunhardt, E.E.,J. Wu, B. Penetrante, 1988, Phys. Rev. A 37, 1654.
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© 1990 Plenum Press, New York
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Kunhardt, E.E. (1990). Nonlinear Diffusion. In: Gallagher, J.W., Hudson, D.F., Kunhardt, E.E., Van Brunt, R.J. (eds) Nonequilibrium Effects in Ion and Electron Transport. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0661-0_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0661-0_30
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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