Kinetic Equations for Plasma and Radiation
Open Access
- 1 March 1960
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Physics of Fluids
- Vol. 3 (2), 245-254
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1706022
Abstract
The starting point is the Liouville equation for the density in phase space of a system of charged particles and a denumerably infinite set of field oscillators. By integrating out the coordinates of all but a finite number of particles and oscillators one obtains a chain of equations relating the reduced distribution functions. A complete solution to the chain is obtained by a generalization of the expansion method of Rosenbluth and Rostoker. In lowest order, a coupled set of self‐consistent field equations in the one‐particle and one‐oscillator distributions is obtained. These are partially decoupled to give the usual Vlasov equation and a companion equation for the oscillator distribution. In first order one obtains a similar set of equations for the two‐particle and the particle‐oscillator correlation functions. An entirely similar pair of equations then relates the first‐order distribution functions themselves. It appears that the general solution is obtained by the steady unfolding of higher correlation functions in terms of higher and higher self‐consistent field equations. The first‐order equations can be regarded as a ``Fokker‐Planck'' equation for particles and a ``Fokker‐Planck'' equation for radiation.Keywords
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