Effects of repeated interactions and correlational disintegration on kinetic and transport properties of a non-neutral plasma in strong fields

Abstract

Collisions in a cylindrically symmetric non-neutral (electron) plasma, where the Larmor radius is much smaller than the Debye length, and the consequent particle transport, are studied. The plasma is confined radially by a strong axial magnetic field and axially by electric potentials. Hence two particles may interact repeatedly. Eventually they drift too far away from each other poloidally to interact any more, owing to shear in the E × B drift. The consequent build-up of correlation is limited by correlational disintegration due to collisions with ‘third particles’ between the repeated interactions. A kinetic equation including these effects is derived, and the cross-field particle transport along the density gradient is found. An associated equilibration time is shown to scale as B and to be in good agreement with the experimentally obtained values of Briscoli, Malmberg and Fine.