Influence of a Constant Magnetic Field and a High-Frequency Electric Field on Plasma

Abstract

A new method of determining the expression of the averaged high-frequency pressure force (Miller force) based on the solution of the kinetic equation for the electron distribution function and the method of successive approximations (separation of slow motions and fast oscillations) is proposed for the case when a high-frequency electric field and a stationary magnetic field acting simultaneously on weakly inhomogeneous plasma. Moreover, widely recognized methods of theoretical and mathematical physics, such as averaging over the period of oscillation of the electric field and integration over the trajectory, have been applied. Collisions between electrons and stationary ions have been considered. The electric field amplitude is considered a slowly varying function of time and coordinates. The obtained expression allows us to estimate the influence of collisions of plasma particles on the Miller force, and under limiting conditions it coincides with the known expressions for the high-frequency pressure force derived from the equation of plasma electrons motion in high-frequency fields. The calculations neglect the contribution of the magnetic component of the electromagnetic field, which is applicable to longitudinal electric fields. The results obtained in this article are primarily of theoretical interest and reveal the interaction of weakly inhomogeneous plasma with a high-frequency electric field. They can also be used in constructing the kinetic theory of inhomogeneous plasma in high frequency electromagnetic fields.