Kinetic solution to the Mach probe problem in transversely flowing strongly magnetized plasmas
Name
Patacchini-2009-Kinetic solution to.pdf
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249.64 KB
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Author(s)
Patacchini, Leonardo
Hutchinson, Ian Horner
Date Issued
September 2009
Journal
Physical Review E
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Patacchini, Leonardo , and Ian H. Hutchinson. “Kinetic solution to the Mach probe problem in transversely flowing strongly magnetized plasmas.” Physical Review E 80.3 (2009): 036403. (C) 2010 The American Physical Society.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The kinetic equation governing a strongly magnetized transverse plasma flow past a convex ion-collecting object is solved numerically for arbitrary ion to electron temperature ratio τ. The approximation of isothermal ions adopted in a recent fluid treatment of the same plasma model [I. H. Hutchinson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 035004 (2008)] is shown to have no more than a small quantitative effect on the solution. In particular, the ion flux density to an elementary portion of the object still only depends on the local surface orientation. We rigorously show that the solution can be condensed in a single “calibration factor” Mc, function of τ only, enabling Mach probe measurements of parallel and perpendicular flows by probing flux ratios at two different angles in the plane of flow and magnetic field.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.036403
