Gwybodaeth Modiwlau
Module Identifier
PHM8510
Module Title
Plasma and Space Physics
Academic Year
2013/2014
Co-ordinator
Semester
Intended for use in future years
Pre-Requisite
Successful Completion of Year 3 of the MPhys Scheme
Other Staff
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 20 lectures |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Exam | 3 Hours end of semester examination | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
After taking this module students should be able to:
- describe the fundamental characteristics of plasmas.
- discuss the behaviour of plasmas from the standpoints of both individual particles and bulk fluid-like properties.
- explain the properties of certain types of waves and instabilities in plasmas.
Brief description
The core of the course will cover the essentials of plasma physics, including the nature of a plasma, motion of single charged particles in a magnetic field, magnetohydrodynamics, waves in plasma, and instabilities. The theory will be illustrated by examples from interplanetary space and the magnetosphere.
Content
Occurrence of plasmas, temperature of a plasma, Debye shielding, plasma oscillations.
Motion of a single charged particle in
(a) a homogenous magnetic field; gyro-radius and frequency.
(b) a converging magnetic field; magnetic mirror.
(c) an inhomogenous magnetic field; drift motion.
(d) a magnetic field with a perpendicular electric field.
Magnetohydrodynamics: Maxwell's equations applied to a plasma; diffusion time of magnetic field in a plasma; "frozen-in" fields, magnetic Reynold's number.
Waves in a plasma: electron plasma waves, ion-acoustic waves, MHD waves, shear Alfven waves, fast-mode (compressional) waves.
Types of instability, two-stream instability (simple "doppler-shift" treatment), Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (qualitative treatment).
Motion of a single charged particle in
(a) a homogenous magnetic field; gyro-radius and frequency.
(b) a converging magnetic field; magnetic mirror.
(c) an inhomogenous magnetic field; drift motion.
(d) a magnetic field with a perpendicular electric field.
Magnetohydrodynamics: Maxwell's equations applied to a plasma; diffusion time of magnetic field in a plasma; "frozen-in" fields, magnetic Reynold's number.
Waves in a plasma: electron plasma waves, ion-acoustic waves, MHD waves, shear Alfven waves, fast-mode (compressional) waves.
Types of instability, two-stream instability (simple "doppler-shift" treatment), Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (qualitative treatment).
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7