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Long-time behavior of the Lorentz electron gas in a constant, uniform electric field

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Abstract

The long-time behavior of the Lorentz electron gas is studied in the presence of a uniform external field. A discussion of the rigorous solution of the one-dimensional Boltzmann equation is followed by the derivation of the asymptotic form of the velocity distribution in an arbitrary number of dimensions. The system is shown to absorb energy from the field without bounds, which excludes the usually assumed steady state with finite thermal energy density.

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References

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Supported by the Polish Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Project MR.I.7.

The authors are very grateful to Dr. Y. Pomeau for many valuable comments.

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Piasecki, J., Wajnryb, E. Long-time behavior of the Lorentz electron gas in a constant, uniform electric field. J Stat Phys 21, 549–559 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011167

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011167

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