Basic Space Plasma Physics (revised Edition)

Product Description

This textbook begins with a description of the Earth's plasma environment, followed by the derivation of single particle motions in electromagnetic fields, with applications to the Earth's magnetosphere. Also discussed are the origin and effects of collisions and conductivities, formation of the ionosphere, magnetospheric convection and dynamics, and solar wind-magnetosphere coupling.The second half of the book presents a more theoretical foundation of plasma physics, starting with kinetic theory. Introducing moments of distribution function permits the derivation of the fluid equations, followed by an analysis of fluid boundaries, with the Earth's magnetopause and bow shock as examples, an…