Stationary plasma states far from equilibrium

The appearance of generalized-Lorentzian distribution functions, a physical generalization of the so-called 'κ-distributions', in collisionless space plasmas is a frequent phenomenon. They represent 'stationary states far from thermal equilibrium'. It is argued in which way they can be understood from kinetic theory of quasistationary highly correlated (presumably turbulent) states. Fits of model generalized-Lorentzian distributions to measured distributions in the magnetospheric tail and the auroral plasmas are presented. These fits provide reasonable values of density and temperature in the regions under consideration. Moreover, an expression for the Debye screening length is derived for such generalized-Lorentzian plasmas showing that the screening in correlated plasmas is reduced in comparison with Maxwellian plasmas