- Lecturer: Plamen Ivanov
General Prerequisites:
Prequel: Kinetic Theory (MT), an undergraduate course on Electricity and Magnetism.
Course Term: Hilary
Course Lecture Information: 16 lectures
Course Weight: 1
Course Overview:
18 lectures.
Areas: CMT, Astro, foundational course.
Sequel: Collisional Plasma Physics (TT) (note however that this course is self-contained and can be taken without continuing to Collisional Plasma Physics). (TT).
1 unit.
Method of assessment: Choose from Take Home exam in TT OR homework completion.
Lecturers: Dr Plamen Ivanov (8 lectures) Prof Alex Schekochihin (10 lectures)
Part I. Plasma waves:
Cold plasma waves in a magnetised plasma. WKB theory of cold plasma wave propagation in an inhomogeneous plasma, cut-offs and resonances. Hot plasma waves in a magnetised plasma. Cyclotron resonance.
Part II. Kinetics of strongly magnetised plasmas:
Kinetic description of a collisionless, magnetised plasma; kinetic MHD. Barnes damping, firehose and mirror instabilities. Particle motion. Drift kinetics. Drift waves and the ion-temperature-gradient instability. Electron drift kinetics (time permitting): kinetic Alfvén waves, electron-temperature-gradient instabilities.
This a Physics course. Additional course materials such as problem sheets, homework hand in, and lecture recording can be found at the Canvas site at:
https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/110068 Lectures can be accessed from this link, but if you need a direct link to lectures they can be found at:
https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/110068/external_tools/496
Areas: CMT, Astro, foundational course.
Sequel: Collisional Plasma Physics (TT) (note however that this course is self-contained and can be taken without continuing to Collisional Plasma Physics). (TT).
1 unit.
Method of assessment: Choose from Take Home exam in TT OR homework completion.
Lecturers: Dr Plamen Ivanov (8 lectures) Prof Alex Schekochihin (10 lectures)
Part I. Plasma waves:
Cold plasma waves in a magnetised plasma. WKB theory of cold plasma wave propagation in an inhomogeneous plasma, cut-offs and resonances. Hot plasma waves in a magnetised plasma. Cyclotron resonance.
Part II. Kinetics of strongly magnetised plasmas:
Kinetic description of a collisionless, magnetised plasma; kinetic MHD. Barnes damping, firehose and mirror instabilities. Particle motion. Drift kinetics. Drift waves and the ion-temperature-gradient instability. Electron drift kinetics (time permitting): kinetic Alfvén waves, electron-temperature-gradient instabilities.
This a Physics course. Additional course materials such as problem sheets, homework hand in, and lecture recording can be found at the Canvas site at:
https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/110068 Lectures can be accessed from this link, but if you need a direct link to lectures they can be found at:
https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/110068/external_tools/496
Learning Outcomes:
Course Synopsis: