Kinetic theory of two-temperature polyatomic plasmas

Jean-Maxime Orlac'H (1) , Vincent Giovangigli (2) , Tatiana Novikova (1) , Pere Roca (1)

1 LPICM - Laboratoire de physique des interfaces et des couches minces [Palaiseau]
2 CMAP - Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées - Ecole Polytechnique

We investigate the kinetic theory of two-temperature plasmas for reactive polyatomic gas mixtures. The Knudsen number is taken proportional to the square root of the mass ratio between electrons and heavy-species, and thermal non-equilibrium between electrons and heavy species is allowed. The kinetic non-equilibrium framework also requires a weak coupling between electrons and internal energy modes of heavy species. The zeroth-order and first-order fluid equations are derived by using a generalized Chapman-Enskog method. Expressions for transport fluxes are obtained in terms of macroscopic variable gradients and the corresponding transport coefficients are expressed as bracket products of species perturbed distribution functions. The theory derived in this paper provides a consistent fluid model for non-thermal multicomponent plasmas.

Mots clés: transport coefficients; kinetic theory; non-thermal plasmas; polyatomic gas mixtures; Chapman-Enskog method

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Thermique [physics.class-ph]

Jean-Maxime Orlac'H, Vincent Giovangigli, Tatiana Novikova, Pere Roca. Kinetic theory of two-temperature polyatomic plasmas. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2018, 494, pp.503--546. ⟨10.1016/j.physa.2017.11.151⟩. ⟨hal-01618918⟩