Times:
Tu Th 2:00pm-3:15pm (MTH B0425)
Instructor:
Professor Adil Hassam hassam@umd.edu
AVW 3307
Office hours: Send me email
for any questions, any time.
We can set up follow-up appointments as needed.
Texts:
Content:
This is an introduction
to plasma physics. Phys604 and Phys606 (or equivalents) are
prerequisites. I will emphasise mathematical methods applicable to
plasma physics and NL PDE's in general, especially asymptotic methods.
We will begin with neutral fluids to establish the essentials of
kinetic theory, collisions, ideal and dissipative fluid equations,
collisional and collisionless limits, equilibrium, waves, and stability
in fluids, transport (viscosity and thermal conduction), and nonlinear
phenomena such as shocks. A parallel development will then be done for
plasmas. This is a richer system, including three to four time scale
hierarchies (as opposed to two for neutral fluids); plasmas will thus
be classified by frequency regime, collisionality, super- or sub-sonic,
linear and nonlinear. Applications will be made to lab low
temperature plasmas, fusion plasmas, solar and magnetospheric physics,
and astrophysical plasma phenomena. Topics will be drawn from the
following: Boltzmann equation, collision operators, Chapman-Enskog
theory, equilibrium, waves, stability, and transport, dissipation,
Reynolds numbers, various collisiion frequencies, Vlasov equation,
magnetized and unmagnetized plasmas, cold and warm plasmas,
Navier-Stokes and Braginskii equations, MHD, NL waves, wave
propagation, laser-plasma interactions, shocks and solitons.