Dynamics Of Transport In Plasmas And Charged Beams Proceedings Of An Europ Sci Foundation Study Centre

The problem of particle transport in extended systems is addressed in this book. It has important implications from both the conceptual and applied points of view. A community of researchers from different disciplines and fields is actively engaged in studying this problem, often using similar methodologies. The main subjects covered in this book are relevant to nonlinear diffusion in plasmas and to transport dynamics in accelerators and free electron lasers.

Existing textbooks on plasma physics usually contain only a minor contribution devoted to plasma transport. The aim of Transport Processes in Plasmas'' is to provide a comprehensive and unified presentation of the transport theory in plasmas. This subject is of great importance in general statistical and plasma physics; moreover, it constitutes a keystone in the thermonuclear fusion programme as well as in astro- and geophysics. The subject is presented here by unified concepts, methods and notations. The contents are strongly embedded in a general framework of theoretical physics, appealing to modern Hamiltonian mechanics, kinetic theory, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, etc. The necessary concepts from these disciplines are briefly but completely explained, making the two volumes a self-contained text. Plasma transport theory can be characterised as a truly interdisciplinary activity, and several chapters are included containing the important concepts of these peripheral fields, briefly and completely. Many new features are introduced in those two volumes.