[Table of Contents]

Plasma and Fusion Research

Volume 6, 2401058 (2011)

Regular Articles

Numerical Analysis of Quantum Mechanical ∇B Drift
Shun-ichi OIKAWA, Takahiro SHIMAZAKI and Emi OKUBO
Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, N-13, W-8, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
(Received 6 December 2010 / Accepted 1 April 2011 / Published 1 July 2011)

Abstract

We have solved the two-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a single particle in the presence of a nonuniform magnetic field for initial speeds of 10-100 m/s. By linear extrapolation, it is shown that the variance, or the uncertainty, in position would reach the square of the interparticle separation n−2/3 with a number density of n = 1020 m−3 in a time interval of the order of 10−4 sec. After this time the wavefunctions of neighboring particles would overlap, as a result the conventional classical analysis may lose its validity: Plasmas may behave more-or-less like extremely-low-density liquids, not gases, since the size of each particle is of the same order of the interparticle separation.

Keywords

grad-B drift, magnetic length, Landau state, quantum mechanical scattering, plasma, diffusion, expansion time

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.6.2401058

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This paper may be cited as follows:

Shun-ichi OIKAWA, Takahiro SHIMAZAKI and Emi OKUBO, Plasma Fusion Res. 6, 2401058 (2011).