Stochastic solution of the Boltzmann equation for thermal electrons in an attractive Coulombic potential

Abstract

A stochastic method has been employed to investigate the distribution function of free electrons in gases in the field of a positive ion. Stochastic results have been obtained for several pressures and for both large (Langevin) and small ions, and the results have been compared with the solutions of the diffusion approximation and Pitaevskii's Fokker—Planck approximation to the Boltzmann equation.