title: On the possibility of excitation heating of ions to high temperature.
abstract: Cyclic or chainlike inelastic collision processes are invoked as an hypothesis to explain the grossly nonthermodynamic properties of energetic carbon and gas-fed carbon arcs confined by magnetic fields. Elastic collisions between the fast electrons (upsilon_ > upsilon(+) but E_ << E(+)) and the hot ions appear to be only about one-tenth as efficient a process for heating the ions as the proposed multiple inelastic collision process, which we call excitation-heating. In addition, a revised treatment of the rate of energy transfer from hot carbon ions to the very cold electrons (upsilon_ < upsilon(+)) reduces the conventional ion cooling rate by a factor of about 6.
authors.affiliation: Thermonuclear Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: McNally
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Skidmore
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Francis