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Natural and Laboratory Plasmas II - Example Sheet 1: (Z) B (1+ (Z/L) ) - How

This document contains: 1) Data on fundamental physical constants like the electron mass, speed of light, and Earth properties. 2) Nine problems involving calculations related to orbit theory, radiation from charged particles, plasmas, and magnetic fields. The problems calculate values like the Larmor radius of particles, drift velocities, radiation emission angles, and properties of confined particle orbits. 3) Formulas are provided and derived for quantities like guiding center drift velocities, radiation beaming angles from accelerating particles, and properties of the differential equation governing a particle's orbit.

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58 views2 pages

Natural and Laboratory Plasmas II - Example Sheet 1: (Z) B (1+ (Z/L) ) - How

This document contains: 1) Data on fundamental physical constants like the electron mass, speed of light, and Earth properties. 2) Nine problems involving calculations related to orbit theory, radiation from charged particles, plasmas, and magnetic fields. The problems calculate values like the Larmor radius of particles, drift velocities, radiation emission angles, and properties of confined particle orbits. 3) Formulas are provided and derived for quantities like guiding center drift velocities, radiation beaming angles from accelerating particles, and properties of the differential equation governing a particle's orbit.

Uploaded by

alteru4
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Natural and Laboratory Plasmas II – Example sheet 1

Orbit Theory and Radiation from a Charged Particle


May 2004 (some errors corrected)

DATA

Electron mass me = 9.11  10-31 kg


Proton mass mp = 1.673  10-27 kg
Speed of light c = 2.998  108 ms-1
Elementary charge e = 1.602 10-19 C
Boltzmann constant kB = 1.381  10-23 J K-1
Earth Mass M = 5.794  1024 kg
Earth Radius R = 6.731  106 m

1. Calculate the Larmor radius, rL, of


- an electron travelling at 0.6c, with pitch angle 25o, in a coronal magnetic field of 10-3 T
- an alpha particle in a tokamak plasma with temperature 10 6K and B = 8T (here, calculate
the maximum value of rL)
- a 10keV electron in the Earth’s magnetic field at a distance of 5R  above its surface (R is
the Earth’s radius). Assume that the equatorial field strength at the Earth’s surface is 3 
10-5 T.

2. Show that the gravitational force on a 1eV proton in the Earth’s ionosphere (which extends from
about 50km above the Earth to 10 R) is negligible compared to the Lorentz force it experiences. You
may use the value of the Earth’s magnetic field from question (1).

3. A particle with charge q is emitted from the origin with momentum p, directed at angle  to a
uniform magnetic field B which lies in the z-direction. At what point does the particle next intersect
the z-axis?

4. Calculate the loss-cone angle for charged particles at the midpoint of a symmetric magnetic bottle of
length L, with longitudinal magnetic field strength Bz which varying as Bz(z) = Bo(1+(z/L)2). How
does the loss-cone angle vary with position along the bottle?

5. Show that the magnetic field at the mirror point for a particle with speed v is
2
 v 
B m  B ( z ) 
v ( z ) 
where v(z) is the perpendicular speed of the particle at position z, and B(z) is the z-component of the
magnetic field at this position. Hence, show that – in the field structure given above – the time, ,
taken for a trapped particle on the z-axis to bounce between its two mirror points at z = L and z = -L
is

2L
 
v
6. A column of electrons has density ne = 1010m-3, and radius a = 103 cm. It is confined by a 0.1T
magnetic field, with B in the positive z-direction. Use Poisson’s equation to work out the electrostatic
field due to the electrons, and hence the magnitude and direction of the EB drift at r = a.

If the electrons are flowing along the column at uniform speed, how will the EB drift change?

7. Suppose that a region of free space has a magnetic field B  B ( r )eˆ  , where  is the azimuthal
direction. Show that the guiding centre of a gyrating charged particle of mass m and charge q has a
combination of curvature and gradient drifts given by

m RC  B  2 1 2 
v gc   v ||  v  
q R C2 B 2  2 

where Rc is the radius of curvature of the field lines, and v||, v are the parallel and perpendicular
components of the particle velocity.

8. Show for a relativistic accelerating particle, with collinear velocity and acceleration vectors that the
angle to these vectors at which the peak power is radiated is given by

cos  max 
1
3

1  15 2  1/ 2

1

where  = v/c

9. Prove that

d 
R 
ˆ  R
ˆ     1
Rˆ  Rˆ      
 
dt' 
  
 2

where R̂ is a unit vector.

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