Plasma I
PHYS-423
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Plasma I (PHYS-423)
This class is open to Master students and PhD candidates. It extends the introduction to plasma physics provided in the course PHYS-325: “Introduction à la physique des Plasmas", covering collisional and transport phenomena, collective phenomena and waves, including hot and magnetized plasmas, using fluid and kinetic theory, and wave-particle interactions. Examples of applications from different plasmas, such as those of interest in laboratory studies and controlled fusion, and in astrophysics, will be discussed.
Lecture: Prof. Christian Theiler, PPB 313, christian.theiler@epfl.ch
Exercise session: Kenneth Lee, kenneth.lee@epfl.ch
Lecture schedule
Autumn semester: 9.9.-20.12. 20242 hours of ex cathedra lecture followed by 1 hour of exercises, Thursday morning, 8h15 to 11h00 in classroom GC C3 30. Past recordings of the lectures will also be made available
2 hours of assisted problem solving, Friday morning, 8h15 to 10h00, in classroom CM1 104
Examination (15.-17. 01. 2025)
An individual oral exam will take place in the winter exam session. The mark will be determined from the result of this exam onlyThe exam covers the content of the lectures and the exercisesThe list of exam questions can be accessed hereThe list of exercises considered for the exam can be downloaded hereThe student will receive 3 randomly selected questions from the exam questions list and discard one of those. He/she will also receive a randomly selected exercise from the above list. The exam consists of two parts: half an hour of preparation and half an hour of oral examinationDuring the first part, the student is allowed to consult lecture notes, books... During the second part, which will take place in front of the blackboard, the student is not allowed to consult any material except for the NRL plasma formulary (which will be distributed in class) and the exercise sheet of the randomly selected exercise (which must not include any personal notes).Exam schedule: click here
Bibliography
The main reference for this course are the lecture notes by Prof. Fasoli, which can be downloaded here (note that this course was previously called Plasma II)
The lecture notes of the course “Introduction à la Physique des Plasmas " by Dr. Alberti can be downloaded here
The booklet "Théorie des plasmas chauds" by Dr. Kurt Appert can be downloaded here
Free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) providing an introduction to plasma physics and an overview of its applications can be found here and here for a limited time. Unlimited access is provided hereSPC has its own library. Many titles related to plasma physics can be found there. See the SPC library website for more details.
Particularly recommended further reading
- R.J.Goldstone and P.H.Rutherford, Introduction to Plasma Physics, IOP Publ., 1995
- Alexander A. Schekochihin "Lectures on Kinetic Theory and Magnetohydrodynamics of Plasmas", lecture notes, available online
- J. J. Binney, "Functions of a Complex Variable: Theory and Applications", notes available online
Additional further reading General, elementary level:
- F.F.Chen, Introduction to Plasma Physics, 2nd edition, Plenum Press, 1984
- P.M.Bellan, Fundamentals of plasma physics, Cambridge University Press, 2006
- T.J.M.Boyd and J.J.Sanderson, The physics of Plasmas, Cambridge University Press, 2003
- R.D. Hazeltine and F.L.Waelbroeck, The framework of plasma physics, Perseus Books, 1998
- S.Ichimaru, Principles of Plasma Physics: A Statistical Approach, W.H.Benjamin, 1973
- D.R.Nicholson, Introduction to Plasma Theory, John Wiley & Sons, 1983
- P.M.Bellan, Fundamentals of plasma physics, Cambridge University Press, 2006
- T.H.Stix, Waves in Plasmas, American Institute of Physics, 1992
- I.H.Hutchinson, Principles of Plasma Diagnostics, Cambridge University Press, 1987
- D.J.Rose and M.Clark, Jr., Plasmas and Controlled Fusion, MIT Press and John Wiley, 1961
- J.Freidberg, PLasma Physics and Fusion Energy, Cambridge University Press, 2007
- D.J.Rose and M.Clark, Jr., Plasmas and Controlled Fusion, MIT Press and John Wiley, 1961
- T.Tajima and K.Shibata, Plasma Astrophysics, Addison-Wesley, 1997
- Gordon J. Aubrecht, Energy, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 1995
- Lecture 1, (recording from 23.09.2021) (URL)
- Notes on plasma frequency from Plasma MOOC course (File)
- Problem Set 1 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 1 (File)
- Lecture 4, (recording from 14.10.2021) (URL)
- Notes on MHD equations from Plasma MOOC course (File)
- Problem Set 4 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 4 (File)
- Lecture 6, (recording from 28.10.2021) (URL)
- Derivations, Chapter 6.7 (File)
- Problem Set 6 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 6 (File)
- Lecture 8, (recording from 11.11.2021) (URL)
- Refreshment of complex analysis (File)
- Problem Set 8 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 08 (File)
- Lecture 10, (recording from 25.11.2021) (URL)
- Problem Set 10 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 10 (File)
- Lecture 11, (recording from 02.12.2021) (URL)
- Problem Set 11 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 11 (File)
- Lecture 12, (recording from 09.12.2021) (URL)
- Probem Set 12 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 12 (File)
- Lecture 13, (recording from 16.12.2021) (URL)
- Problem Set 13 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 13 (File)
- Lecture 14, (recording from 23.12.2021) (URL)
- Problem Set 14 (File)
- Solution to Problem Set 14 (File)