Heating of a weakly ionized magnetoplasma by oscillating electric field

The heating of a weakly ionized magnetoplasma by electric field oscillations has been studied. The Boltzmann transport equation in presence of external fields has been solved for obtaining the zero order and first order perturbations in the distribution function. The collisional relaxation of the perturbed distribution function has been invoked for the randomnization of the additional energy dumped into the plasma. The energy balance equation has been solved in two different cases (E perpendicular to B) and (E parallel to B) and the rise in electron temperature obtained in each case. It is shown that if the electric field is applied in the form of impulses and by properly choosing plasma and field parameters the electron temperature can increase appreciably above the ambient temperature. The geophysical and astrophysical implications of the perturbational heating have been unumerated. (author)