Instability-enhanced collisional effects and Langmuir's paradox.
Anomalously fast equilibration of the electron distribution function to a Maxwellian in gas-discharge plasmas with low temperature and pressure, i.e., Langmuir's paradox, may be explained by electron scattering via an instability-enhanced collective response and hence fluctuations arising from convective ion-acoustic instabilities near the discharge boundaries.
Baalrud
S D
SD
Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1609, USA. sdbaalrud@wisc.edu
Callen
J D
JD
Hegna
C C
CC