English

Friction Force in Strongly Magnetized Plasmas

Plasma Physics 2020-10-14 v1

Abstract

A charged particle moving through a plasma experiences a friction force that commonly acts antiparallel to its velocity. It was recently predicted that in strongly magnetized plasmas, in which the plasma particle gyro-frequency exceeds the plasma frequency, the friction also includes a transverse component that is perpendicular to both the velocity and Lorentz force. Here, this prediction is confirmed using molecular dynamics simulations, and it is shown that the relative magnitude of the transverse component increases with plasma coupling strength. This result influences single particle motion and macroscopic transport in strongly magnetized plasmas found in a broad range of applications.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2008.11126,
  title  = {Friction Force in Strongly Magnetized Plasmas},
  author = {David J. Bernstein and Trevor Lafleur and Jerome Daligault and Scott D. Baalrud},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2008.11126},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T18:05:45.484Z