Finite volume solution of the relativistic Boltzmann equation for electron avalanche studies

Author

Symbalisty, Eugene M D ; Roussel-Dupré, Robert A. ; Yukhimuk, Vyacheslav A.

Author_Institution

Div. of Earth & Environ. Sci., Los Alamos Nat. Lab., NM, USA

Volume

26

Issue

5

fYear

1998

fDate

10/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1575

Lastpage

1582

Abstract

The Boltzmann equation for a population of relativistic electrons in a constant external electric field in air is solved numerically in order to determine parameters of the resulting runaway electron beam. The numerical solution takes advantage of algorithms from computational fluid dynamics. The work revises the results from the original work where the numerical solution was found to be unstable

Keywords

Boltzmann equation; air; bremsstrahlung; computational fluid dynamics; electron avalanches; electron beams; numerical stability; plasma kinetic theory; relativistic plasmas; Boltzmann equation; air; algorithms; computational fluid dynamics; constant external electric field; electron avalanche; finite volume solution; numerical solution; relativistic Boltzmann equation; relativistic electrons; runaway electron beam; unstable numerical solution; Boltzmann equation; Charge carrier processes; Computational fluid dynamics; Distribution functions; Electron beams; Integral equations; Ionization; Kinetic theory; Production; Steady-state;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.736065

Filename

736065