ENERGY-LOSS DUE TO BINARY COLLISIONS IN A RELATIVISTIC PLASMA

Energy-transfer equations for a test particle in a fully ionized plasma are presented. The charged particles interact via Lienard-Wiechert potentials and the dominant contribution to the scatterings are from small-angle binary collisions. Asymptotic expansions of the energy rate equations are presented for all cases where either the test or the field particles or both are relativistic. These asymptotic equations are then used to derive equations determining rates of equipartition of energy, from which appropriate equipartition times are deduced. This work represents a relativistic generalization of nonrelativistic binary-collision Coulomb scattering. © 1979 The American Physical Society.