Davidson R.С. Theory of nonneutral plasmas

W.A. Benjamin, Inc., 1974, 199 pages, ISBN 0-8053-2345-7A nonneutral plasma is a many-body collection of charged particles in which there is not overall charge neutrality. Such systems can be characterized, depending on the charge density, by intense self electric fields. It has been known for some time that nonneutral plasmas exhibit collective properties that are qualitatively similar to those of neutral plasmas. For example, in klystrons and
traveling-wave tubes, the collective oscillations necessary for microwave generation and amplification are excited even under conditions in which the electron beams in these devices are unneutralized.This book is an introduction to the equilibrium and stability theory of magnetically confined nonneutral plasmas. Atomic processes and discrete particle interactions (i.e., binary collisions) are omitted from the analysis, and collective processes are assumed to dominate on the time and length scales of interest.Two levels of theoretical description are available for a collisionless nonneutral plasma. These are (a) a microscopic or kinetic description based on the Vlasov-Maxwell equations, which includes finite-temperature effects in a natural manner, and (b) a macroscopic fluid description based on the moment-Maxwell equations. The basic equations and range of validity of the kinetic and macroscopic descriptions are summarized in Chapter
1. Chapter 2 deals with the macroscopic equilibrium and stability properties of cold nonneutral plasmas in uniform magnetic field geometries. The equilibrium and stability properties of magnetically confined nonneutral plasmas are examined within the framework of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations in Chapter
3. Configurations ranging from toroidal ring currents of relativistic electrons to intense relativistic electron beams in linear-beam geometries are analyzed.Macroscopic Equilibria and Stability
Vlasov Equilibria and Stability