Phys 8120

Plasma Physics

Syllabus

Required Text:

Vinod Krishan, Astrophysical Plasmas and Fluids, (Kluwer Academic Publishers, paperback); this is an up-to-date (1999) text written at an appropriate level

Other texts to which you man wish to refer:

1) Peter A. Surrock, Plasma Physics

2) Nicholas A. Krall & Alvin W. Trivelpiece, Principles of Plasma Physics

3) Lyman Spitzer, Jr., Physics of Fully Ionized Gases

4) George B. Rybicki & Alan P. Lightman, Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

Objectives

This course is designed to give physicists and astronomers a grounding in the basics of plasma dynamics and stability. Both fluid and kinetic descriptions of ionized gases will be studied. Applications will mainly involve important plasma processes in astrophysical situations.

Topic

Nature of Plasmas on Earth and in Space

Motion of Charged Particles in Electromagnetic Fields

Waves in Plasmas

Instabilities in Plasmas

Transport Processes in Plasmas

Radio Galaxies: Synchrotron Emission

Solar Corona: Reconnection and Particle Acceleration

Pulsars: Coherent Emission

 

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