Grading
policy:
| Homework | 60 % |
| Midterm
|
15 % |
| Final
|
25 % |
Exam dates & locations:
| Midterm
1 |
TBD |
TBD |
| Final |
TBD |
TBD |
Course outline:
1) Basic concepts of plasma
frequency, Debye shielding, and the Boltzmann distribution function
2) Single particle motion, particle drifts superimposed upon gyro
motion, basic physics of the the radiation belts in our
magnetosphere
3) Cold plasma waves with and without magnetic fields
4) Plasma kinetics, the moment equations, fluid approximation
5) The basic ideas behind ideal MHD, simple static equilibria, and
frozen flux approximation
6) Kinetic theory of waves in an unmagnetized plasma, the two-stream
instability, the plasma dispersion function, and Landau damping
7) The behavior of complex (dusty) plasmas.
Useful web sites:
Physics Department
Department for Astrophysical and
Planetary Sciences
Laboratory for Atmospheric and
Space Physics
Center for Integrated Plasma Studies
Coalition for
Plasma Science
Sounds of Space (Prof. Gurnett, U.
Iowa)
Useful material:
NRL
Plasma Formulary (pdf)