Physics of collisionless plasma

Abstract

Work concerning two alternative descriptions of nonequilibrium processes in a completely ionized plasma is reviewed. Taking Landau attenuation as an example, it is shown that a number of fundamental questions remain unresolved in the kinetic theory of plasma. The reason is the lack of a clear picture of the change from the reversible equations of charged particles-field mechanics to the irreversible equations of continuum in the statistical theory of plasma. The problem proves to be solvable due to continuum structure being denned in a consistent way with the dynamic instability characteristics of plasma particle motion. As a result, generalized irreversible equations arise, enabling nonequilibrium plasma processes on both the kinetic and hydrodynamic scales to be described in a unified manner.