Uniform derivation of Coulomb collisional transport thanks to Debye shielding

TL;DR

This paper derives a unified expression for Coulomb collisional transport in plasmas using Debye shielding, eliminating the need for arbitrary cutoffs and refining the Coulomb logarithm.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive derivation of collisional transport that accounts for all impact parameters without cutoff, improving upon traditional Rutherford scattering models.

Findings

Derived a convergent expression for collisional transport

Eliminated the need for impact parameter cutoffs

Modified the Coulomb logarithm slightly

Abstract

The effective potential acting on particles in plasmas being essentially the Debye-shielded Coulomb potential, the particles collisional transport in thermal equilibrium is calculated for all impact parameters $b$, with a convergent expression reducing to Rutherford scattering for small $b$. No cutoff at the Debye length scale is needed, and the Coulomb logarithm is only slightly modified.