2003/05/13 by S. Gordienko, S. N. Gordienko, Gordienko, S. +6
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Dust and Plasma Wave Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #General Physics (physics.gen-ph) #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Theoretical and Computational Physics #physics.gen-ph #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0305050
5 pages, 2 figures
arxiv created 2003/05/13 · openalex publication_date 2003/05/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A closed expression for the momentum evolution of a test particle in weakly-coupled plasma is derived, starting from quantum many particle theory. The particle scatters from charge fluctuations in the plasma rather than in a sequence of independent binary collisions. Contrary to general belief, Bohr's (rather than Bethe's) Coulomb logarithm is the relevant one in most plasma applications. A power-law tail in the distribution function is confirmed by molecular dynamics simulation.