Plasma kinetic processes in a strong d.c. magnetic field

Several recent results in the kinetic theory of a strongly magnetized plasma are surveyed. The emphasis is on the electrostatic guiding-center plasma in two dimensions, in both the fluid and 'charged rod' descriptions. The correspondence with inviscid hydrodynamics and the relevance of hydrodynamic turbulence theory are stressed. The basic kinetic description of the plasma is in terms of the statistically-distributed Fourier coefficients associated with the velocity and 'enstrophy' (charge density) fields. It is a universal tendency in such media for enstrophy to flow to shorter wavelengths but for energy to flow to longer wavelengths. This flow can be seen to be identical with thermalization in wave number space, and is not properly interpreted as having anything to do with normal modes or instabilities. A consequence of the energy flow to longer wavelengths is the generation of long-range order in the form of macroscopic vortices. These kinds of structure have historically been called 'convection cells' in plasma physics, and can be extraordinarily efficient at transporting particles transverse to a magnetic field. The tendency to vortex formation can be disrupted by collisions between particles. Therefore we have considered in some detail the modifications of the Fokker-Planck equation for a plasma produced by a strong d.c. magnetic field, in both two and three dimensions. (Auth.)