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Two Alternative Approaches in the Kinetic Theory of Fully Ionized Plasmas
Author(s) -
Klimontovich Yu. L.
Publication year - 1998
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.2150380302
Subject(s) - plasma , non equilibrium thermodynamics , kinetic energy , kinetic theory , physics , landau damping , instability , classical mechanics , ionization , statistical physics , mechanics , theoretical physics , thermodynamics , ion , quantum mechanics
A brief review of two alternative descriptions of nonequilibrium processes in fully ionized plasmas is presented. The example of “Landau damping” is used to demonstrate that some fundamental problems remain unsolved in the kinetic theory of plasmas. They arise from inconsistent descriptions of the transition from the reversible equations of mechanics of charged particles and fields to the irreversible equations of continuous media in the theory of plasmas. These difficulties can be overcome through consistently defining the structure of continuous media and the characteristics of dynamic instability motion of particles. The procedure leads to generalized irreversible kinetic equations which provide the basis for a unified description of nonequilibrium processes in plasma on kinetic and hydrodynamic scales.