Syllabus
* Plasma drifts in electric, magnetic and other external fields, adiabatic invariants.
* Kinetic theory of plasma: kinetic equations, phase space, Liouville theorem, Boltzmann equation, BBGKY.
* Collision term and relaxation:
Vlasov equation, Fokker-Planck equation, entropy, H-theorem, equilibrium distributions.
* Magnetohydrodynamic description of the plasma: hydrodynamic equations of motion, linear and nonlinear waves in plasma, equilibrium and stability, Landau damping.
* Selected applications of plasma theory on Earth and in Space
Annotation
Definition of plasma; plasma particle drifts of in electric and magnetic fields; adiabatic invariants, plasma kinetic theory; equations of motion of hydrodynamics; collision term and relaxation; magnetohydrodynamic description.
Linear and nonlinear waves in plasma; magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability of plasma.
Selected applications of plasma theory on Earth and in Space.
The course is suitable primarily for students of Theoretical Physics.