Quantum Kinetics of Fast-Electron Inelastic Collisions in Partially-Ionized Plasmas
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866908900959191040 |
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| author | Lee, Yeongsun Aleynikov, Pavel Park, Jong-Kyu |
| author_facet | Lee, Yeongsun Aleynikov, Pavel Park, Jong-Kyu |
| contents | Fast electrons in partially ionized plasmas lose energy through inelastic collisions with bound electrons. While the mean energy loss is well described by stopping-power theory, fluctuations associated with discrete excitation and ionization events produce energy straggling and an additional longitudinal diffusion in momentum space. We incorporate this effect into fast-electron kinetics through a derived Fokker-Planck operator whose coefficients are obtained from ab initio quantum many-body simulations. We demonstrate that neglecting inelastic energy diffusion in partially ionized D-Ar plasmas can underestimate primary runaway-electron generation by several orders of magnitude. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_18715 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Quantum Kinetics of Fast-Electron Inelastic Collisions in Partially-Ionized Plasmas Lee, Yeongsun Aleynikov, Pavel Park, Jong-Kyu Plasma Physics Quantum Physics Fast electrons in partially ionized plasmas lose energy through inelastic collisions with bound electrons. While the mean energy loss is well described by stopping-power theory, fluctuations associated with discrete excitation and ionization events produce energy straggling and an additional longitudinal diffusion in momentum space. We incorporate this effect into fast-electron kinetics through a derived Fokker-Planck operator whose coefficients are obtained from ab initio quantum many-body simulations. We demonstrate that neglecting inelastic energy diffusion in partially ionized D-Ar plasmas can underestimate primary runaway-electron generation by several orders of magnitude. |
| title | Quantum Kinetics of Fast-Electron Inelastic Collisions in Partially-Ionized Plasmas |
| topic | Plasma Physics Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.18715 |