Microscopic Theory of Conductivity of a Weakly Ionized Plasma

Abstract

Through the use of the microscopic density functions in μμ space the conductivity for a weakly ionized plasma can be expressed in terms of a function describing single particle diffusion in the plasma. This diffusion function or transition probability has been shown to obey a linear Boltzmann equation. As a result the approximate solution of the conductivity problem can be accomplished either by modeling the collision term in the kinetic equation or by a stochastic modeling of the diffusion function itself. The two approaches are seen to be completely equivalent.