Thermodynamically Consistent Vibrational-Electron Heating: Generalized Derivation for Excited State Populations
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866911289855442944 |
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| author | Parent, Bernard Fuentes, Felipe Martin Rodriguez |
| author_facet | Parent, Bernard Fuentes, Felipe Martin Rodriguez |
| contents | Accurate prediction of electron temperature ($T_{\rm e}$) in non-equilibrium plasma flows is critical for applications ranging from hypersonic flight to plasma-assisted combustion. We recently proposed a thermodynamically consistent model for vibrational-electron (V-e) heating [Phys. Fluids 37, 096141 (2025)] which enforces convergence of $T_{\rm e}$ to the vibrational temperature ($T_{\rm v}$) at equilibrium. While the original derivation assumed electron energy loss was dominated by collisions with ground-state molecules, this Letter presents a rigorous generalization of the model. We demonstrate that the heating-to-cooling ratio $\exp(θ_{\rm v}/T_{\rm e}-θ_{\rm v}/T_{\rm v})$ with $θ_{\rm v}$ the characteristic vibrational temperature remains valid even when electron cooling interactions with vibrationally excited states are included. This derivation removes the previous constraint assuming ground-state dominance, thereby extending the model's validity to plasma flows where vibrationally excited populations contribute significantly to electron cooling. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_21944 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Thermodynamically Consistent Vibrational-Electron Heating: Generalized Derivation for Excited State Populations Parent, Bernard Fuentes, Felipe Martin Rodriguez Plasma Physics Accurate prediction of electron temperature ($T_{\rm e}$) in non-equilibrium plasma flows is critical for applications ranging from hypersonic flight to plasma-assisted combustion. We recently proposed a thermodynamically consistent model for vibrational-electron (V-e) heating [Phys. Fluids 37, 096141 (2025)] which enforces convergence of $T_{\rm e}$ to the vibrational temperature ($T_{\rm v}$) at equilibrium. While the original derivation assumed electron energy loss was dominated by collisions with ground-state molecules, this Letter presents a rigorous generalization of the model. We demonstrate that the heating-to-cooling ratio $\exp(θ_{\rm v}/T_{\rm e}-θ_{\rm v}/T_{\rm v})$ with $θ_{\rm v}$ the characteristic vibrational temperature remains valid even when electron cooling interactions with vibrationally excited states are included. This derivation removes the previous constraint assuming ground-state dominance, thereby extending the model's validity to plasma flows where vibrationally excited populations contribute significantly to electron cooling. |
| title | Thermodynamically Consistent Vibrational-Electron Heating: Generalized Derivation for Excited State Populations |
| topic | Plasma Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.21944 |