Abstract
This chapter is devoted to introducing the elementary physics of stationary plasmas in the space environment. Space plasma is basically tenuous, that is, the mean free path is generally comparable to or longer than the scale length of any inhomogeneity. Furthermore, the scale lengths of the inhomogeneities are often much larger than the characteristic scale length of plasma parameters such as the Debye length or Larmor radius (see Sect. 1.4 for the definitions). Under these circumstances, the motion of individual particles under the assumption of infinitely small Larmor radii (guiding center motion, see Sect. 1.7) is important in deciding how the plasma particles move in the space environment.
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© 1989 Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Hasegawa, A., Sato, T. (1989). Physics of Stationary Plasmas. In: Space Plasma Physics. Physics and Chemistry in Space, vol 16. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74185-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74185-2_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74185-2
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