CONCEPT OF TEMPERATURE:

Before proceeding further, it is well to review and extend our physical notions of "temperature." A gas in thermal equilibrium has particles of all velocities, and
the most probable distribution of these velocities is known as the Maxwellian distribution. For simplicity, consider a gas in which the particles can move only
in one dimension. (This is not entirely frivolous; a strong magnetic field, for instance, can constrain electrons to move only along the field lines.) The one-
dimensional Maxwellian distribution is given by

1
𝑓(𝑢) = 𝐴 𝑒𝑥𝑝 (− 2 𝑚𝑢2 / 𝐾𝑇) 1

1
where f du is the number of particles per m3 with velocity between u and u + du, − 2 𝑚𝑢2 is the kinetic energy, and K is Boltzmann's constant,

𝐾 = 1.38 𝑋 10−23 𝐽/𝐾𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑖𝑛

The density n, or number of particles per 𝑚3 , is given by (see Fig. 1-2)

∞
𝑛 = ∫ 𝑓(𝑢) 𝑑𝑢 2
−∞

The constant A is related to the density n by

𝑚
𝐴 = 𝑛(2𝜋𝐾𝑇)1/2 3

The width of the distribution is characterized by the constant T, which we call the temperature. To see the exact meaning of T, we can compute the average
kinetic energy of particles in this distribution:
 ∞ 1
∫−∞2𝑚𝑢2 𝑓(𝑢) 𝑑𝑢
𝐸𝑎𝑣 = ∞ 4
∫−∞ 𝑓(𝑢) 𝑑𝑢

Defining

𝑣𝑡ℎ = (2𝐾𝑇/𝑚)1/2 , and y = u / 𝑣𝑡ℎ 5

we can write Eq. [1] as

𝑢2
𝑓(𝑢) = 𝐴 𝑒𝑥𝑝 (− )
𝑣𝑡ℎ 2
And Eq.[4] as

1 ∞
2 𝑚𝐴𝑣𝑡ℎ 3 ∫−∞[exp( −𝑦 2 )]𝑦 2 𝑑𝑦
𝐸𝑎𝑣 = ∞
𝐴𝑣𝑡ℎ ∫−∞[exp( −𝑦 2 )] 𝑑𝑦

The integral in the numerator is integrable by parts :

∞ ∞
1 1
∫ 𝑦. [exp( −𝑦 2 )]𝑦 𝑑𝑦 = [− [exp( −𝑦 2 )] 𝑦]∞
−∞ − ∫ − [exp( −𝑦 2 )]𝑑𝑦
−∞ 2 −∞ 2

1 ∞
= 2
∫−∞ exp( −𝑦 2 )𝑑𝑦

Cancelling the integrals, we have

1 1
𝑚𝐴𝑣𝑡ℎ 3 1 1
𝐸𝑎𝑣 = 2
𝐴𝑣𝑡ℎ
2
= 4 𝑚𝑣𝑡ℎ 2= 2 𝐾𝑇 6

1
Thus average kinetic energy is 𝐾𝑇.
2

It is easy to extend this result to three dimensions. Maxwell's distribution is then

1
𝑓(𝑢, 𝑣, 𝑤) = 𝐴3 exp(− 𝑚(𝑢2 +𝑣 2 +𝑤 2 )/ 𝐾𝑇)
2
𝑚
𝐴3 = 𝑛(2𝜋𝐾𝑇)3/2

The average kinetic energy is

 ∞ 1 1
∭−∞ 𝐴3 2 𝑚(𝑢2 +𝑣 2 +𝑤 2 exp(− 2 𝑚(𝑢2 +𝑣 2 +𝑤 2 )/ 𝐾𝑇) 𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑤
𝐸𝑎𝑣 =
∞ 1
∭−∞ 𝐴3 exp(− 2 𝑚(𝑢2 +𝑣 2 +𝑤 2 )/ 𝐾𝑇) 𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑤

We note that this expression is symmetric in u, v, and w, since a Maxwellian distribution is isotropic. Consequently, each of the three terms in the numerator
is the same as the others. We need only to evaluate the first term and multiply by three:

1 1 1
3𝐴3 ∫ 𝑚𝑢2 exp(− 𝑚𝑢2 / 𝐾𝑇) 𝑑𝑢 ∬ exp(− 𝑚(𝑣 2 +𝑤 2 )/ 𝐾𝑇) 𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑤
𝐸𝑎𝑣 = 2 2 2
1 1
𝐴3 ∫ exp(− 2 𝑚𝑢 / 𝐾𝑇) 𝑑𝑢 ∬ exp(− 2 𝑚(𝑣 2 +𝑤 2 )/ 𝐾𝑇) 𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑤
2

Using our previous result, we have

3
𝐸𝑎𝑣 = 𝐾𝑇
2
1
The general result is that 𝐸𝑎𝑣 · equals 2KT per degree of freedom. Since T and 𝐸𝑎𝑣 .- are so closely related, it is customary in plasma physics to give

temperatures in units of energy. To avoid confusion on the number of dimensions involved, it is not 𝐸𝑎𝑣 but the energy corresponding to KT that is used to
denote the temperature. For KT = 1 e V = 1.6 x 10-19 J, we have

1.6 𝑋 10^ − 19
𝑇= = 11,600
1.38 𝑋 10^ − 23

By a 2-eV plasma we mean that KT = 2 eV, or 𝐸𝑎𝑣 = 3 eV in three dimensions. It is interesting that a plasma can have several temperatures at the same time.
It often happens that the ions and the electrons have separate Maxwellian distributions with different temperatures T; and T,. This can come about because the
collision rate among ions or among electrons themselves is larger than the rate of collisions between an ion and an electron. Then each species can be in its
own thermal equilibrium, but the plasma may not last long enough for the two temperatures to equalize. When there is a magnetic field B, even a single
species, say ions, can have two temperatures. This is because the forces acting on an ion along Bare different from those acting perpendicular to B (due to the
Lorentz force). The components of velocity perpendicular to B and parallel to B may then belong to different Maxwellian distributions with temperatures T .1
and Tn. Introduction Before leaving our review of the notion of temperature, we should dispel the popular misconception that high temperature necessarily
means a lot of heat. People are usually amazed to learn that the electron temperature inside a fluorescent light bulb is about 20,000°K. "My, it doesn't feel that
hot!" Of course, the heat capacity must also be taken into account. The density of electrons inside a fluorescent tube is much less than that of a gas at
atmospheric pressure, and the total amount of heat transferred to the wall by electrons striking it at their thermal velocities is not that great. Everyone has had
the experience of a cigarette ash dropped innocuously on his hand. Although the temperature is high enough to cause a burn, the total amount of heat involved
is not. Many laboratory plasmas have temperatures of the order of 1,000,000°K (100 eV), but at densities of 1018-1019 per m3, the heating of the walls is not
a serious consideration