Donald Melrose – författare

The idea of synthesizing quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the kinetic theory of plasmas ?rst occurred to me in the early 1970s [1, 2]. The project to do so has been carried out bit by bit over the subsequent years. The name “quantum plasmadynamics” (QPD) is my own jargon [3] for the synthesized theory. Both QED and the kinetic theory of plasmas areconcerned with the int- action between charged particles and the electromagnetic ?eld, but they are radically di?erent in the way the interaction is described. The kinetic theory of plasmas is a collective-medium theory: a plasma is not a collection of - dependent particles in a given electromagnetic ?eld, but a medium in which the particles collectively modify the ?eld, and the ?eld modi?es the par- cles. The charge and current densities associated with the particles are part of a self-consistent ?eld. Conventionally, the kinetic theory of plasmas is a classical theory: the motions of particles are treated using classical dynamics.

The idea of synthesizing quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the kinetic theory of plasmas ?rst occurred to me in the early 1970s [1, 2]. The project to do so has been carried out bit by bit over the subsequent years. The name “quantum plasmadynamics” (QPD) is my own jargon [3] for the synthesized theory. Both QED and the kinetic theory of plasmas areconcerned with the int- action between charged particles and the electromagnetic ?eld, but they are radically di?erent in the way the interaction is described. The kinetic theory of plasmas is a collective-medium theory: a plasma is not a collection of - dependent particles in a given electromagnetic ?eld, but a medium in which the particles collectively modify the ?eld, and the ?eld modi?es the par- cles. The charge and current densities associated with the particles are part of a self-consistent ?eld. Conventionally, the kinetic theory of plasmas is a classical theory: the motions of particles are treated using classical dynamics.

The idea of synthesizing quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the kinetic theory of plasmas ?rst occurred to me in the early 1970s [1, 2]. The project to do so has been carried out bit by bit over the subsequent years. The name “quantum plasmadynamics” (QPD) is my own jargon [3] for the synthesized theory. Both QED and the kinetic theory of plasmas areconcerned with the int- action between charged particles and the electromagnetic ?eld, but they are radically di?erent in the way the interaction is described. The kinetic theory of plasmas is a collective-medium theory: a plasma is not a collection of - dependent particles in a given electromagnetic ?eld, but a medium in which the particles collectively modify the ?eld, and the ?eld modi?es the par- cles. The charge and current densities associated with the particles are part of a self-consistent ?eld. Conventionally, the kinetic theory of plasmas is a classical theory: the motions of particles are treated using classical dynamics.

Quantum Plasmadynamics is a synthesis of the kinetic theory of plasmas and quantum electrodynamics (QED). In this volume, the approach applied to unmagnetized plasmas in volume 1 is generalized to magnetized plasmas. First, a covariant version of nonquantum kinetic theory is formulated for single-particle (emission and scattering)  processes and the collective-medium response. The relativistic quantum treatment is based on solutions of Dirac's equation for an electron in a magnetostatic field, and single-particle processes are treated using a magnetized version of QED. The response of an electron gas is derived by generalizing the derivation of the response of the magnetized vacuum.