TRANSPORT PROCESSES IN TWO-COMPONENT PLASMA ON THE BASIS OF LANDAU EQUATION

Abstract

In this paper, transport processes in a fully ionized plasma, governed by the kinetic equation proposed by Landau, have been investigated by expanding the distribution functions of ions and electrons in terms of generalized Hermite Polynomials, following Grad. From the resulting transport equation expressions for viscosity, thermal conductivity, diffusivity, electrical conductivity and Townsend coefficients in the presence of a constant, uniform, strong magnetic field, are reduced. These expressions have similar forms to those obtained earlier by the same procedure by Devanathan, Raghavachar and Ram Babu on the basis of Fokker-Planck equation. This is as expected since Landau equation, in principle, is another version of the Fokker-Planck equation, taking into account small simultaneously particle interactions. Using the expression for electrical conductivity, the decay length of disturbances in the stellar photosphere, like regions of turbulence, is calculated and is found to increase both; with the decrease in number density and increasing temperature, there-by providing an efficient mechanism for coronal heating. Further, the ratio of thermal conductivity to electrical conductivity has linear dependence on temperature in agreement with the Wiedemann-Franz law, although the slopes in the two cases are different. The other transport coefficients show the same behaviour as in earlier investigations.