Manasvi Lingam, Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology

"Collisional moments for plasma models"

Abstract: Due to the complexity of the Landau collision operator, it is often neglected (or not properly accounted for) in plasma fluid models. I will describe how the Landau operator can be expressed in terms of plasma moments by way of (tensorial) Hermite polynomials. This representation does not impose any restrictions on the temperature, flow velocity or mass ratio of the plasma species. Two examples of this approach will be briefly discussed: (i) collisional ten-moment equations with exact conservation laws, and (ii) higher-order contributions to the collisional momentum-transfer rate that extend the standard expression for the Spitzer resistivity.