Instability, Turbulence, and Conductivity in Current-Carrying Plasma

Abstract

In fully ionized plasma, close (large-angle) collisions between particles in appreciable relative motion are rare. However, collective Coulomb interactions (i.e., small-angle collisions) cause instabilities which grow so rapidly that relative motion of ions and electrons, i-.e., currents, are continually damped down by conversion of directed energy into random fluctuation energy. The mechanism of this phenomenon is explored mathematically. (L.T.W.)