On the Anomalous Diffusion in Nonisothermal plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nature of anomalous diffusion in nonisothermal plasma, analyzing how ion charge relaxation and inhomogeneity scale affect diffusion behavior under different plasma conditions.

Contribution

It combines the effects of ion charge relaxation and inhomogeneity scale to provide a comprehensive understanding of anomalous diffusion in nonisothermal plasma.

Findings

Diffusion is decisive when inhomogeneity exceeds the Debye radius by a factor related to temperature ratio.

Ion charge relaxation becomes significant during abrupt inhomogeneity spreading.

The study clarifies conditions leading to normal versus anomalous diffusion in plasma.

Abstract

In nonisothermal plasma at temperature T_e>> T_i diffusion plays decisive role at conditions of smooth inhomogeneity when the inhomogeneity size is larger than the Debye radius by more than {T_e/T_i}^1/2 times. When the inhomogeneity is rather abrupt and the condition is violated, then during the spreading process the Maxwellian relaxation of ion charges becomes significant. Here, we consider these two phenomena together and refer to the anomalous character of diffusion, i.e. anomalous diffusion.