Particle interactions in high-temperature plasmas / Oliver James Pike.
This thesis makes two important contributions to plasma physics. The first is the extension of the seminal theoretical works of Spitzer and Braginskii, which describe the basics of particle interactions in plasma, to relativistic systems. Relativistic plasmas have long been studied in high-energy as...
Saved in:
| Online Access: |
Full Text (via Springer) |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cham, Switzerland :
Springer,
2017.
|
| Series: | Springer theses.
|
| Subjects: |
Table of Contents:
- Supervisor's Foreword; Abstract; PublicationsThe following publications contain work presented in this thesis:Pike, O. J., Mackenroth, F., Hill, E. G. and Rose, S. J.: A photon-photon collider in a vacuum hohlraum. Nat. Photonics 8, 434-436 (2014). See also:Interview with Oliver Pike, Light into matter, Nat. Photonics 8, 496 (2014).Alexander Thomas: Antimatter creation in an X-ray bath, Nat. Photonics 8, 429-431 (2014).Pike, O. J. and Rose, S. J.: Dynamical friction in a relativistic plasma, Phy. Rev. E 89, 053107 (2014).Pike, ; Acknowledgements; Contents; Conventions and Symbols.
- 1 Introduction1.1 Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion; 1.1.1 Inertial Confinement Fusion; 1.1.2 The National Ignition Facility; 1.2 High Intensity Laser Plasma Interactions; 1.2.1 Laser Plasma Acceleration; 1.2.2 Laser-Based QED Experiments; 1.3 Structure of Thesis; References; 2 Theoretical Background; 2.1 Kinetic Theory of Plasmas; 2.1.1 The Klimontovich Equation; 2.1.2 The Boltzmann Equation; 2.1.3 The Fokker-Planck Collision Operator; 2.1.4 Jüttner's Distribution; 2.1.5 Linearisation of the Boltzmann Equation; 2.1.6 Classical Transport Theory; 2.2 Quantum Electrodynamics.
- 2.2.1 QED Processes in High-Temperature Plasmas2.2.2 Non-linear QED in Strong Electromagnetic Fields; References; 3 Dynamical Friction in a Relativistic Plasma; 3.1 Relativistic Fokker
- Planck coefficients for a Maxwellian background; 3.1.1 Limiting Cases; 3.2 Relativistic Test Particle Relaxation Rates; 3.2.1 Momentum Loss Rate; 3.2.2 Momentum Diffusion Rates; 3.2.3 Energy Exchange Rate; 3.3 Discussion of Results; 3.4 Limits of Validity; References; 4 Transport Processes in a Relativistic Plasma; 4.1 Lorentzian Plasma: Analytical Treatment; 4.1.1 Limiting Cases.
- 4.1.2 Dimensionless Transport Coefficients4.2 Plasmas with Arbitrary Atomic Number: Numerical Solution; 4.2.1 Numerical Scheme; 4.3 Rational Fits to the Transport Coefficients; 4.4 Discussion of Results; 4.5 Limits of Validity; References; 5 Numerical Simulations of High-Temperature Plasmas; 5.1 The Monte Carlo Method; 5.1.1 Numerical Scheme; 5.2 Verification of Theoretical Results and Benchmarking; 5.2.1 Relaxation to a Maxwellian Distribution; 5.2.2 Relaxation Rates of a Relativistic Test Particle; 5.2.3 Transport Coefficients of a Relativistic Plasma.
- 5.3 Physics Beyond the Fokker
- Planck ApproximationReferences; 6 An Experiment to Observe the Breit
- Wheeler Process; 6.1 Laser-Based Antimatter Experiments; 6.1.1 Pair Production in Solid Targets Irradiated by High Intensity Lasers; 6.1.2 Pair Production in Laser Wakefield Driven Solid Target Scattering; 6.1.3 Pair Production in Burning Thermonuclear Plasmas; 6.1.4 SLAC E-144 Experiment; 6.1.5 Positron Production at Ultra-High Laser Intensities; 6.2 Outline of Experimental Scheme; 6.2.1 Creation of an Intense Gamma-Ray Beam Using Brems-Strahlung.