Transport coefficients of a relativistic plasma

Abstract

In this work, a self-consistent transport theory for a relativistic plasma is developed.Using the notation of Braginskii [S. I. Braginskii, in Reviews of Plasma Physics, ed. M. A. Leontovich (1965), Vol. 1, p.174], we provide semi-analytical forms of the electrical resistivity, thermoelectric and thermal conductivity tensors for a Lorentzian plasma in a magnetic field.This treatment is then generalized to plasmas with arbitrary atomic number by numerically solving the linearized Boltzmann equation. The corresponding transport coefficients are fitted by rational functions in order to make them suitable for use in radiation-hydrodynamic simulations and transport calculations. Within the confines of linear transport theory and on the assumption that the plasma is optically thin, our results are valid for temperatures up to a few MeV. By contrast, classical transport theory begins to incur significant errors above k B T ∼ 10 keV, e.g., the parallel thermal conductivity is suppressed by 15% at k B T = 20 keV due to relativistic effects.

DREAM: a fluid-kinetic framework for tokamak disruption runaway electron simulations

“…Both codes implement the fully relativistic test-particle collision operator of Ref. [65]. The values calculated with Dream are within less than 0.3% of those calculated with Code, indicating that the collision operator is correctly implemented.…”

“…By requiring the flux of particles to be locally conserved as in (65), one obtains for the advective and diffusive fluxes on the hot electron grid Φ (p),hot adv…”

Modelling burning thermonuclear plasma

“…The modelling uncertainties arise in several areas including the description of continuum lowering of the dopant ion which has never been tested at the extremely high densities and temperatures involved ([7] and references therein), as well as the description of line radiation transport in the presence of intense bremsstrahlung broadband radiation from the burning gas (photo-exciting and photo-ionizing the dopant). At the electron temperatures obtained in burning plasmas, it is necessary to consider the effect of relativity on the electron distribution that alters electron collisional rates [8] as well as other collisional processes [9]. In addition, there is the complication of coupling that physics self-consistently to a description of the spatial and temporal evolution of the burning plasma in a computationally tractable way.…”