Kinetic Equations for Plasmas

Abstract

The effect of the inner‐core field which is induced by a charged particle within the Landau distance and has been neglected in current kinetic theories of plasmas, is investigated from the transport‐theory viewpoint. In the equation for a one‐particle distribution function, the effect of the outer‐core field between the Landau distance and the Debye distance is represented by the friction and diffusion terms of the Fokker‐Planck type, while the effect of the inner‐core field by the collision term of the Boltzmann type. The magnitudes of these terms are compared with each other. It is shown that the collision term may be larger than the friction and diffusion terms under certain conditions. When the effect of the outer‐core field is larger than that of the inner‐core field, the assumption of weak interaction is shown not to be valid. The possible nonlinear and non‐Markovian behavior of a particle is considered only implicitly. The radiation phenomena are neglected.