Problem Set # 1

Due 3/12/2013 1.1 Using Saha Equation to estimate the ionization rate for the following hydrogen gas T = 30,000 K , U i = 8.6eV , n0 2.5 10 20 m 3

1.2 Compute the Debye length D , N D , the Landau length r0 and the average distance between two particles d e for following plasma: (a) A glow discharge, with n = 2.5 *1016 m 3 , k BTe = 3.6eV (b) The earths ionosphere, with n = 2.5 *1012 m 3 , k BTe = 0.26eV (c) A Z-pinch, with n = 2.6 *10 23 m 3 , kTe = 800eV 1.3 In laser fusion, the core of a small pellet of DT is compressed to a density of at a temperature of 40,000,000 K, Estimate the number of particles in a 1033 m 3 Debye sphere in this plasma . 1.4 Calculate the average kinetic energy for an equilibrium plasma with the Maxwellian distribution, 1 f (u ) = A exp( mu 2 / k BT ) 2 in one-dimension and three-dimension respectively, where A is the normalization factor to be determined, satisfying

duf (u ) = n
Prove the Equipartition theorem in the statistical mechanics. 1.5 (bonus %2) Consider a point charge in a vacuum, q at r=0. The electric potential of this test charge is given by q = 4 0 r = 0, as r Then insert this point charge in a hydrogenic plasma with density n0 and temperature T0 . Use Poisson Equation to solve for the 3D electric potential (r , , ) . Convince that the Debye shielding effect still exists and find the Debye length in this case.