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On the Relaxation of the Energy Distribution Function of Light Particles in Heavy Gases
Author(s) -
Braglia M.,
Minari P.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
contributions to plasma physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1521-3986
pISSN - 0863-1042
DOI - 10.1002/ctpp.2150340604
Subject(s) - thermalisation , distribution function , relaxation (psychology) , function (biology) , distribution (mathematics) , atomic physics , physics , particle (ecology) , order (exchange) , energy (signal processing) , statistical physics , materials science , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , psychology , social psychology , oceanography , finance , evolutionary biology , biology , economics , geology
A stochastic approach to the thermalization problem of light particles in heavy gases is discussed which presents a number of advantages with respect to more conventional techniques. The procedure is used to study the relaxation of the distribution function in cold gases in two situations in which: i) only first order terms are retained and ii) second order terms are also included, with respect to the ratio m/M between light‐particle mass m and atomic mass M .